Venus Williams undone by errors in loss to Pennetta as Italian gains quarters in Cincinnati

Pennetta upsets Venus Williams in Cincinnati

MASON, Ohio — When Venus Williams needed to make a shot, she couldn’t come close.

Williams dumped routine shots into the net or hit them long throughout a 7-6 (2), 6-4 loss to Italy’s Flavia Pennetta on Thursday at the Cincinnati Open.

Williams, seeded third, made some of her worst shots at the biggest moments. She hit a couple of forehands long during the final points of the first-set tiebreaker and ended the match by sending a forehand well beyond the baseline.

“I wasn’t able to get control of my ball today,” said Williams, who even struggled with her serve. “After a while, it was obvious to see she was just keeping the ball in play and waiting for me to self-destruct.”

That set up the first notable upset at the $2 million Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open, which was upgraded to a top-tier event this year. The tournament is the setting for Kim Clijsters’ comeback from a two-year retirement.

Clijsters, who gave birth to a daughter while away from tennis, came through her toughest challenge of the week. Her 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova on Thursday was her first to go three sets. The 26-year-old Belgian won all four points in the final game, then pumped her fist in celebration as she advanced to the quarterfinals.

Pennetta got to the quarters by extending her run of solid matches. The 14th-seeded Italian won the LA Women’s Tennis Championships on Sunday, giving her confidence. She’s 4-3 career against Williams, who couldn’t hold up against Pennetta’s steady baseline play.

When Williams’ forehand sailed long to end the match, Pennetta raised both arms, then put her left hand on her forehead as she approached the net.

“I’m shaking,” she said, shortly after shaking Williams’ hand.

Pennetta usually is more composed after a match.

“The emotion was crazy,” she said. “Coming from Los Angeles, I didn’t have a lot of days to rest. I was playing like that — yesterday, not my best tennis. I was tired. When everything comes together, the emotions go up.”

Despite playing so many matches in such a short time, Pennetta hasn’t been forced to go three sets this week. When her match against Williams reached its turning points, she didn’t make a mistake.

“My confidence now — it’s perfect, you know,” she said. “It’s always (perfect) when you win a lot of matches like this. You believe more in yourself. When I got on the court today, I was just believing in myself.”

Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia reached the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (6), 0-6, 7-6 (5) victory over seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia. Eighth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark also reached the quarters when Hungary’s Melinda Czink retired because of injury in the first set.