Australian Open: Venus Williams and Coco Vandeweghe lose in round one

A black day for the American women: last year’s finalist Venus Williams as well as US Open winner Sloane Stephens and top ten woman Coco Vandeweghe had to cancel their sails at the start of the Australian Open 2018.

Last year’s finalist Venus Williams (USA) dropped out of the Australian Open already in the first round. The number five of the seed list, the oldest participant in the field at 37 years of age, was defeated by the Swiss Belinda Bencic 3:6,5:7. Williams’ compatriot Coco Vandeweghe, last year’s semi-finalist in Melbourne, and US Open winner Sloane Stephens also failed at the start of the season’s first Grand Slam.

Vandeweghe (26) was defeated by the Hungarian Timea Babos 6:7 (4:7), 2:6. Stephens (24) seems to have completely forgotten victory after her triumph in New York. The 6-2,6-7 (2-7), 2-6 defeat to Chinese Zhang Shuai was already the eighth defeat in the eighth match after the surprising title win in September. At that time, Williams and Vandeweghe had also been in the semi-finals of their home grand slam.

Venus Williams had lost in 2017 to her younger sister Serena, who is currently taking a break after the birth of her first daughter. Since their joint debut in Melbourne 20 years ago, at least one of the Williams sisters has always reached the second round.

Williams’ defeat, however, came as no surprise: Bencic, who had previously been ranked seventh on the world rankings, was too strong after a long injury break. The 20-year-old had a bruise on her left wrist and had thrown her far back. After three titles in smaller WTA tournaments at the end of last year, she climbed back to 78th place. Together with fellow countryman Roger Federer, she won the Hopman Cup in the first week of January.

Among the men Kyle Edmund managed the first surprise of the tournament. The Briton kicked US open finalist Kevin Anderson (South Africa/No. 11) out of the tournament with 6:7 (4:7), 6:3,3:3,6:6:3,6:4.