Venus William Wines The Last Match and Up to 3rd Round

Venus William Wines The Last Match

Third seed Rafael Nadal made light work of his opening-round match, easing past Richard Gasquet of France in straight sets.
The third seed showed no signs of his recent fitness problems as he claimed a 6-2 6-2 6-4 victory to set up a meeting with Nicolas Kiefer of Germany.
Both players were returning from spells on the sidelines. Nadal has been out of action with knee troubles, while Gasquet recently served a two-and-a-half month ban after testing positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.
Nadal is seeded to meet number two Andy Murray in the semi-finals but the Scot may have to first get past sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro, who eased past Juan Monaco 6-3 6-3 6-1 in an all-Argentine clash late on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Marat Safin's famously emotional temperament was kept in check as he reflected on his elimination from his last ever grand slam tournament at Flushing Meadows.
The former world number one has announced he will retire at the end of this season but his final US Open outing came to an end at the first hurdle as he lost 1-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 to Austria's Jurgen Melzer at Armstrong.
The two-time grand slam winner - who announced his arrival as a major force in the men's game with a shock win over Pete Sampras in the final at Flushing Meadows in 2000 - also crashed out in the first round at Wimbledon earlier this year and his current world ranking of 58 underlines the extent to which his star has waned at 29.
Frenchman Gael Monfils, the 13th seed, looked in fine fettle as he dispatched unseeded compatriot Jeremy Chardy in straight sets, 6-1 6-4 6-3.
Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero is also through after the 24th seed ousted Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, also playing his last US Open, 6-4 6-3 6-3, while Germany's Kiefer was also a winner in straight sets, sending Michael Llodra of France crashing out, 6-3 6-4 6-4.

NEW YORK – Even with her left leg all taped up, Venus Williams has advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open in straight sets.
The 2000-01 Open champion beat 124th-ranked Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States 6-4, 6-2 Wednesday.
It was a far easier match than Williams had in the first round, when she stopped after three games to have a trainer place a wrap below her left knee, then needed three sets to get through.

Williams suffered an abdominal injury in mid-2003 which prevented her from playing. Upon her return in 2004, she experienced inconsistent results. In 2005, she won her first Grand Slam title in four years at Wimbledon, but since then she suffered from wrist injury and only played six events in 2006. Her world rankings suffered as a result, the nadir being World No. 54 in February 2006. However, Williams eventually won another Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon in 2007, becoming the lowest-seeded and lowest-ranked Wimbledon champion in history. Williams returned to the top ten later that year and has since competed in every Grand Slam event. She returned to the top three for the first time in six years in May 2009