Venus Williams gave the Americas an early lead in the final of Hong Kong's World Team Challenge Friday, beating Russia's Anna Chakvetadze in straight sets. Williams failed to match the intensity of her play Thursday against world number one Jelena Jankovic early in the match but ultimately still had too much for her Russian opponent, winning 7-6 (7/1), 6-3.
Chakvetadze took the initiative, mixing up her play against the big-hitting American and breaking serve in the first game and again in the fifth game but Williams responded with breaks of her own to take the first set into a tie-break, which she wrapped up 7-1. In the second set Williams seized control, racing into a 4-0 lead as the 18th-ranked Chakvetadze struggled to cope with the seven-time Grand Slam champion's powerful hitting.
But the 21-year-old Russian refused to buckle, fending off two match points at 5-1 down and then breaking Williams as she served for the match before the American broke again to seal the set 6-3. Williams said her game would benefit from being put in difficult situations early in the season against such a tough opponent.
"She was competitive from the beginning and that was definitely important, plus you know there's extra motivation when you're not just playing for yourself but you have other team members," the Wimbledon champion said. She said it was important to take the exhibition tournament seriously. "I need all these matches, all these points. I need to be down a break, go to a tie-break, have some close service games and all of that, especially getting back into the season."
Chakvetadze said she was happy with her performance and confident ahead of the year's first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, later this month. "I think it was a good match to play and I feel much, much better compared to last year," she said. "I'm pleased with the way I played but I feel I can play even better and have to work on my first serve a little bit," the Russian added.
The JB Group Classic World Team Challenge, which ends Saturday, features four three-player teams representing Europe, Russia, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. The gold group final, between the Americas and top seeds Russia, consists of four singles matches and one doubles match. Russia's Vera Zvonareva was playing Gisela Dulko from the Americas in the second singles match Friday.
Earlier, in the first match in the silver group final, which includes two singles matches and a doubles clash, Asia-Pacific's Zheng Jie and Sania Mirza thumped Europe's Jankovic and Michelle Larcher de Brito 6-1, 6-1. In the final clash of the evening, Mirza was due to take on Europe's Agnes Szavay in a silver group singles clash.