Venus Williams beaten 6-2, 7-5 by unseeded Aravane Rezai of France in Madrid Masters final

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Venus Williams beaten by Rezai in Madrid final

MADRID — Venus Williams, hardly playing like her new No. 2 ranking, lost to unseeded Aravane Rezai of France 6-2, 7-5 Sunday in the Madrid Masters final.

Rezai rallied from two breaks down in the second set to win her third career title in her sixth final.

Williams, seeded fourth, was seeking a 10th clay-court title and looking to improve on her 12-1 record on the surface this year. It was the 70th final of her career, and on Monday she will rise to No. 2 — behind sister Serena — for the first time since May 2003.

“I probably wasn’t at the highest of my energy today,” Williams said. “I felt a little slower than normal, but I tried hard and I feel very good about my game. Sometimes you run into a player who’s red hot, they hit every shot, they don’t miss — and credit to them.”

In the men’s final, top-ranked Roger Federer plays second-seeded Rafael Nadal for the first time since last year’s final.

Rezai was making her second appearance at the Madrid Masters and came in having lost in the first round in Barcelona and the second in Rome. She ended up dropping only one set all tournament. Rezai, ranked 24th, has beaten Williams in two of their three matches.

“It’s been the best week of my career,” Rezai said. “I played very well and I’m very proud of myself because it was a very tough tournament and there were a lot of players here — everyone was here — so I just believed in myself.”

Rezai broke to lead 2-1 in the opening set, and went 5-2 up after a fierce cross-court forehand to again break. After making only five unforced errors in the first set, Rezai started to looked less assured, notching 26 in the second.

Two errors and a winner by Williams gave the American four break points — her first of the match — in the second game. Rezai saved three but lost the fourth to a stinging forehand return from Williams to trail 2-0.

Rezai broke back immediately but failed to hold serve in the next game as Williams went up 3-1. Williams served for the set at 5-3 but the seven-time Grand Slam title winner couldn’t return a deep groundstroke to concede a break-point chance. Rezai ripped a deep backhand return past the lunging Williams.

Rezai was in trouble in the next game, saving a string of set points as Williams attacked her serve before holding on. After Williams’ forehand drifted out to put Rezai ahead 6-5, the Frenchwoman served it out for the title.