Shahar Pe'er was knocked out in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open, losing 6-3, 6-3 to Williams.
By ALLON SINAI, APShahar Peer 88(photo credit: AP)
Shahar Pe'er was knocked out in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne on Saturday, losing 6-3, 6-3 to Venus Williams.
Pe'er (46 in the world) won the first three games of the match against the world No. 6, but dropped the first set after losing the next six.
She was then sent packing after falling in the second set by the same score line.
"She tries on every shot, every ball, every point," Williams said of Pe'er. "Even if it's 5-1, she's still trying to get that game and win that set. I appreciate her attitude. It's refreshing."
Meanwhile, recent No. 1 Jelena Jankovic lost her third straight match when she was upset by Pe'er's doubles partner Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-4, 7-6 (5) early Sunday.
The final match of the second round ended at 12:20 a.m.
Jankovic, last year's runner-up, blew a 5-2 lead in the second set and another 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker to Dulko.
The third-seeded Serb also lost her opening match at this month's BNP Paribas Open.
Top-ranked Serena Williams reached the third round by beating teenage wild card Alexa Glatch 6-2, 6-3, leaving only two American women in the draw.
The other is her sister Venus.
On the men's side, top-ranked Rafael Nadal opened a bid for his first Key Biscayne title by beating Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-2, 6-2 and fourth-seeded Andy Murray was broken three times as he struggled to put away Juan Monaco of Argentina 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Murray, coming off a loss to Rafael Nadal in the BNP Paribas Open final, improved his career-best start to 21-2.
His only other loss this year was at the Australian Open to Fernando Verdasco, who on Saturday took care of German qualifier Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-4 to notch his 200th career ATP win.