Serena slumps out injured

Hobbling on an injured knee, Serena Williams left the Bausch and Lomb Championships just the way her sister did last year.

After her first match.

The second-seeded Williams retired Tuesday after falling behind Paola Suarez 3-6, 6-4, 2-5. Two games before quitting, the defending U.S. Open champion called for a trainer, who applied a light bandage to the knee.

Williams returned to the court and winced throughout her service game. She lost that game to go down 1-5, broke Suarez's serve, then called it a night after falling behind 0-15 in the next game and realizing she couldn't flex her knee enough to serve effectively.

"I would say, from an injury standpoint, that lately I've been getting the short end of the stick," Williams said. "But I know things will get better soon."

Trainer Sue Fleshman diagnosed the injury as patellar tendinitis and said it appeared "quite acute right now." A doctor in Boca Raton will look at it later in the week.

Williams was hampered by an injured right knee in February, but has played three tournaments since and made the round of 16 or better in all of them.

Her loss to Suarez, the 62nd-ranked player in the world, was similar to the way Venus Williams exited this tournament last year. Venus lost her first match to 140th-ranked Sonya Jeyaseelan.

"She's a decent player," Williams said of Suarez. "Obviously, on a better day, I definitely would have come up with a much better result."

Other winners included fourth-seeded Conchita Martinez, who defeated Elena Dementieva 7-5, 6-2; No. 7 Anna Kournikova, who beat Anne Kremer 7-5, 7-6 (4); No. 16 Lisa Raymond, who defeated Jennifer Hopkins 6-4, 0-6, 6-1; No. 8 Barbara Schett, who beat Gala Leon Garcia 6-2, 6-2; and No. 10 Amanda Coetzer, who defeated Tatiana Panova 6-0, 6-4.

Top-seeded Mary Pierce and defending champion Monica Seles play their first matches Wednesday.

Even before the injury, Suarez seemed to have the game plan for Williams, muting her power with well-placed groundstrokes and a 100 mph (160 kilometers per hour) serve of her own. It was the biggest upset in the Argentinean's career.

"She's the best player I've beaten," said Suarez, a clay-court specialist. "I hope it's the first and I can continue like this. I've just got to play like this everyday."

Williams' decision to leave the court three points before the match ended didn't dampen the victory.

"It was 5-2," Suarez said. "I felt I could win."

Williams' loss, added to top-ranked Lindsay Davenport's decision not to play because of a sore left leg, may have opened the door for Kournikova to win her first Sanex WTA Tour title.

The 18-year-old Russian struggled in her debut in thi Trailing 4-5 in the second, she saved a pair of set points, both off unforced errors on forehands by Kremer. Kournikova won the game, forced a tiebreaker, and after winning that at 7-4 she smiled for the first time of the afternoon.

"It was a tough match because Anne's one of the most patient players on tour," Kournikova said. "She brings back a lot of balls, she's very consistent. You have to make her make mistakes or you have to make winners."

Off tempo with her serve and her groundstrokes, Kournikova berated herself throughout the match, often looking to her mother and coach, seemingly searching for answers.

"Some mistakes I made from being tired at the end of a point or not being able to have good balance because it's clay," Kournikova said. "Mostly, it's just that it's the first match on clay. I've played Anne a couple of times and won in two sets. It shouldn't be a match for me to worry about."

Results

Singles

First Round

Henrieta Nagyova (Slovak) def. Tina Pisnik (Sloven) 6-0, 6-2. Anastasia Myskina (Rus) def. Erika de Lone (US) 6-4, 6-1. (10) Amanda Coetzer (SA) def. Tatiana Panova (Rus) 6-0, 6-4. (16) Lisa Raymond (US) def. Jennifer Hopkins (US) 6-4, 0-6, 6-1. Asa Carlsso (Swe)0 def. (13) Ruxandra Dragomir (Rom) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Corina Morariu, (US) def. Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Swit) 6-4, 6-4.

Nicole Pratt (Aus) def. Fabiola Zuluaga (Col) 6-4, 7-6. Anna Smashnova (Isr) def. Iva Majoli (Cro) 6-3, 6-1. Tara Snyder (US) def. Kristina Brandi (US), United States, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Second Round

(7) Anna Kournikova (Rus) def. Anne Kremer (Lux) 7-5, 7-6 (4).

(8) Barbara Schett (Aus) def. Gala Leon Garcia (Sp) 6-2, 6-2.

(4) Conchita Martinez (Sp) def. Elena Dementieva (Rus) 7-5, 6-2.

Doubles

First Round

(5) Chanda Rubin, United States, and Sandrine Testud (Fr) def. Holly Parkinson and Brie Rippner (Us) 6-1, 6-2. Rika Hiraki and Yuka Yoshida (Japan) def. Meghann Shaughnessy and Linda Wild, (US) 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3. Surina de Beer and Liezel Horn (SA) def. Mirjana Lucic, Croatia, and Alexandra Stevenson (US) 6-1, 6-4. Erika de Lone (US) and Nicole Pratt (Aus) def. Julie Pullin (GB) and Bryanne Stewart (Aus) 6-2, 6-3. (8) Rita Grande (It) and Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) def. Amy Frazier and Katie Schlukebir (US) 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5. (6) Amanda Coetzer (SA) and Ai Sugiyama (Japan) def. Asa Carlsson, Sweden, and Sonya Jeyaseelan (Can) 7-6 (5), 6-4. Florencia Labat and Laura Montalvo (Arg) def. Daniela Hantuchova (Slovak) and Petra Rampre (Sloven) 6-3, 6-2.

Second Round

Barbara Schett (Aus) and Patty Schnyder (Swit) def. (1) Corina Morariu (US) and Mary Pierce (Fr) 2-6, 7-4 (4), 6-0.