15-year-old stuns Venus in third round
Karatantcheva reaches quarters;Davenport survives another 3-setter
The Associated Press
Updated: 3:21 p.m. ET May 27, 2005
PARIS - Venus Williams did plenty to beat herself, and 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva took care of the rest.
The young Bulgarian upset an erratic Williams 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 Friday in the third round of the French Open.
“I had never heard of her before this match,” Williams said. “She played well, definitely. But I also felt like if I just played 10 percent better, I’m going to win this match easily.”
Williams hit just nine winners and committed 52 unforced errors, including seven double faults. She lost serve nine times, including all four service games in the final set.
It was the latest Grand Slam disappointment for the 11th-seeded Williams, who was seeking her fifth major title and her first since 2001. She hoped for a strong showing at Roland Garros after winning a final for the first time in a year last week at Istanbul.
Williams showed up for the customary postmatch news conference shortly after her defeat, explaining that she was eager to return to Florida.
“I want to leave,” she said. “I have nothing more to do here. I just want to go.”
Younger sister Serena missed the tournament because of a lingering ankle injury.
Karatantcheva, ranked 98th, won the Roland Garros juniors title last year and earned her first victory in a Grand Slam match earlier this week. She trains in Florida, and both her parents are former Bulgarian national champions — dad in rowing, mom in volleyball.
But few expected her to give Williams trouble.
“She really didn’t play her best tennis,” Karatantcheva said. “I definitely don’t think it was the Venus Williams I watch on TV and I see when I started out. But for me, I did give what I could give. I like that I won, no matter what.”
Lindsay Davenport refused to wilt in the 85-degree midday heat despite being pushed to three sets for the third consecutive match. The top-ranked Davenport survived her toughest test yet and beat unseeded Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
“It has been a struggle here,” Davenport said. “I’m pretty amazed I’m still here, given how I feel I’ve been playing. It gives me a laugh.”
Davenport’s fourth-round opponent will be two-time French Open runner-up Kim Clijsters, who eliminated No. 20-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2.
Clijsters has beaten Davenport in their past six meetings.
“Not the record you want going into a match with someone,” Davenport said. “I have a tough time playing her on my favorite surface, let alone my least favorite, clay.”
They’ll meet on clay for the first time. A victory would put Davenport in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1999 at Roland Garros, the lone Grand Slam title she has yet to win.
No. 4 Elena Dementieva, the runner-up last year, beat Akiko Morigami 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Dementieva next plays Russian compatriot Elena Likhovtseva, seeded 16th, who beat No. 18 Silvia Farina Elia 7-5, 7-6 (2).
Young Karatantcheva was steady from the baseline and displayed a game reminiscent of Dementieva, only with a better serve.
Karatantcheva remained impassive throughout the match, but when Williams hit one last errant shot on match point — a backhand into the net — the youngster squealed and sank to her knees. A gracious Williams, once a teen prodigy herself, met Karatantcheva at the net with a smile and a handshake.
Karatantcheva then leaped and threw a fist, blew kisses and bowed to the crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
“It’s obviously great for her,” Williams said. “But at the same time I felt like, wow, I kind of beat myself.”
Williams had just two winners and 23 errors in the opening set. Her mother and coach, Oracene, sat in the stands shaking her head as the mistakes mounted.
In the second set, Williams steadied her strokes to even the match. But Karatantcheva won the first seven points of the final set, ripped a forehand crosscourt winner to go ahead 2-1 and pulled away from there.
When Karatantcheva checked her cell phone after the match, she said, she had 20 missed calls.
“I was kind of nervous with all those people watching me,” she said. “But at the end it came out good.”
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