CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Defending champion Venus Williams blamed
exhaustion for her upset loss Thursday to Tatiana Golovin at the
Family Circle Cup.
Williams lost 7-5, 6-4 on a blustery day. It was the first time
this year that Golovin, a Frenchwoman ranked No. 25 in the world,
had beaten a top-10 player.
"I just kept making error after error. It was a comedy of
errors," said the fourth-seeded Williams, who played Wednesday
night and then had to play again at 1 p.m. "It was windy out there
and I just had a quick turnaround from the last match and my feet
never moved."
Williams, ranked No. 8 in the world, said she had a mental
letdown during the match because of all the tennis she has played
in the past four weeks.
"I just felt pretty dead," Williams said, quickly adding with
a laugh: "But I'm alive."
It was the first career meeting between Williams and Golovin.
"I have played against a few top-10 players already and, you
know, I always kept losing in three sets," Golovin said. "I think
I was just more really ready to beat a top-10 player."
Golovin advanced to play seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia
in Friday's quarterfinals. Petrova was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over
Jelena Kostanic of Croatia.
Justine Henin-Hardenne, who spent much of last season ranked No.
1, defeated Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-3 and faces No. 1 seed and
top-ranked Lindsay Davenport on Friday.
Davenport dispatched qualifier Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-3, 6-1 in
Thursday's late match.
"I feel I'm playing pretty well. Clay is not my favorite. But I
feel like I'm hitting the ball well," Davenport said. "I'm coming
off a win at Amelia Island and I'll just keep trying to be
aggressive and hopefully things will work out."
In the other bracket, Patty Schnyder, seeded eighth, was a 6-4,
6-0 winner over Klara Koukalova and will meet 15-year-old Nicole
Vaidisova who defeated No. 14 seed Shinobu Asagoe 3-6, 6-4, 7-6
(2).
On the same side of the draw, Katarina Srebotnik, a 6-1, 4-6,
6-1 winner over Ai Sugiyama, meets No. 2 seed Elena Dementieva who
defeated Nuria Llagostera Vines 6-0, 6-3.