Venus eclipsed by rising teen star

Former world number one Venus Williams was stunned after she bowed out from the French Open’s third round at the hands of 15-year-old unseeded Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva.

After losing the first set 6-3, the 24-year-old who has won four Grand Slams looked to have regained her composure when she breezed through the second set 6-1.

But the Bulgarian teenager, who is ranked 98th in the world, dominated in the final set, to take the match 6-3 1-6 6-1.

“I think I rushed things too much and made too many mistakes,” said Williams.

“It’s a shock and this is a huge disappointment.

“I think my serve was not well adjusted for this tournament.”

Clearly eager to “go back home” before coming back to Europe to play at Wimbledon, the 11th seed was angry at herself as she declared: “I had never heard of her (Karatantcheva) before.

“She played very well but if I had played 10% better than I did I would have easily won.

“I am ready to go home now and then I will go direct to Wimbledon.”

Asked whether she thought her sister Serena and herself would one day return to the top rankings again, she responded: “I think I am a great player but for now I don’t have good results.”

Meanwhile, world number one Lindsay Davenport felt lucky to still be around after having to come through another three-set battle against France’s Virginie Razzano to progress to the last 16 earlier on Friday.

In the previous round also Davenport – for whom clay is far from her favourite surface – had to wait three sets to get rid of China’s Shuai Peng.

Having come to Paris not expecting to win, Davenport is enjoying her campaign.

“I’m starting to think that it could be, not the best, but one of my greatest achievements in a while just to be able to still be here and still be playing,” Davenport said.

“I feel like I’ve done a really good job, and even though I feel like I am not playing well, hanging on here and winning those matches is a good thing.

“I’m pretty amazed I’m still in given how I feel about my game.”

Davenport will next face Belgian 14th seed Kim Clijsters for the first real battle of the French Grand Slam in the women’s draw on Sunday.

Clijsters, who reached the French Open final in 2001 and 2003, stormed past 20th seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in straight sets 6-4 6-2 to progress to the fourth round.

Davenport claims the Belgian will be the favourite as they clash on clay for the first time ever.

“I’ve had a tough time playing her on my favourite surface, let alone my less favourite, on clay,” added Davenport.

“Hopefully things will start to click at some point and I will feel a bit better about my ball control.

“Who knows? She is a great player. She gives me all sorts of trouble with the way she plays.

“I’m going to have to try and play a lot better and do some things differently.

“But if you look at the past match-ups she will be the favourite, regardless of the rankings.

“On clay she’s probably played or grown up a lot more than I have.”

Clijsters’ victim on Friday, Hantuchova, praised the Belgian’s qualities and claimed that Clijsters is probably the best female player in the tournament, even though she had a nightmare 2004 season due to a wrist operation.

“I am not surprised about her level,” said Hantuchova.

“I’ve practised with her billions of time and she’s proved to me that she is one of the best players in the world, if not the best at the moment.”

Clijsters, who won in Indian Wells and Miami earlier this year before injuring her knee just before the start of Roland Garros, ousted USA’s Tu Meilen and Slovakia’s Ludmila Cervanova in the first two rounds.

“I have to give her all the credit because of the way she came back,” added Hantuchova.

“After being a year away and to do that kind of stuff, I mean, winning two tournaments in a row, that takes a lot of effort.

“The way she played once again showed that she belongs at the top.”

Fourth seed Elena Dementieva, who reached the French Open final last year, needed three sets on court Number 1 to overcome Japan’s Akiko Morigami 6-3 4-6 6-3.

Mary Pierce of France also booked her ticket to the next round after beating Russian ninth seed Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (7/2) 7-5.