Venus Williams battled hard but came up short in the second round of the U.S. Open Thursday night, falling 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 to the sixth seed Angelique Kerber.
In the second set Williams was broken twice, but was able to recover both times to force a third set. She seemed to have an advantage when she went up 4-2 in the third but Kerber battled back and eventually won the final three games of the set to close out the match.
The match lasted nearly three hours and saw both players struggle for various reasons. Williams had trouble when one of her earrings caught onto her necklace and proceeded to double fault the next point, while Kerber was bothered by the crowd noise.
Multiple times during changeovers Kerber placed a towel over her head, attempting to concentrate and not focus on the pro-Venus crowd.
"Venus is such a great player. ... Everybody was against me," Kerber said, according to ESPN.com. "But it doesn't matter."
Kerber also defeated Williams at the Olympics in London last month and is looking to get further in the tournament than she did last year.
She entered the 2011 U.S. Open ranked at number 92 and made it all the way to the semi-final match, before losing to eventual champion Samantha Stosur. She has improved greatly since last year, rising to sixth overall in the world rankings.
Williams was sloppy throughout the match, hitting 16 double faults, 60 unforced errors and managing only one ace. Although Williams lost, she was very thankful to the crowd and to all the fans that waited past midnight to see who would be victorious.
"I know this is not proper tennis etiquette, but this is the first time I've ever played here that the crowd has been behind me like that. Today I felt American, you know, for the first time at the U.S. Open," Williams said, according to ESPN.com. "So I've waited my whole career to have this moment and here it is."
Williams is a two-time U.S. Open champion, winning the tournament in both 2000 and 2001.
Last year, Williams didn't make it to the second round of the tournament after withdrawing due to fatigue issues related to Sjogren's syndrome.
Williams is still in the tournament as a doubles player, where she is partnered with her sister Serena. The duo has won 13 major titles as a team, including most recently at Wimbeldon. They have also won three Olympic doubles tournaments.
Kerber will next play Olga Govortsova of Belarus in the third round. She improved to 19-2 in three set matches.
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