Venus Spins Out Early

MELBOURNE, Australia —  Gone missing from the Australian Open, before the end of the first week: Williams family mystique, Williams family invincibility and, after two startling sets at Melbourne Park today by Lisa Raymond, the Williams family, period.

As they like to say around here, the 30-year-old Raymond created the shock result of the fortnight. She defeated the third-seeded Venus Williams, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in 1 hour 29 minutes, using an all-around game, a blend of power, guile and slice. It was her first victory against Williams in four matches and marked the first time she has been able to win even a set.

As for Venus, she lasted only three rounds longer than her younger sister, Serena, who did not make the 14-hour-plus plane trip here from Southern California. This was the first official tournament that either sister had entered since Serena defeated Venus in the Wimbledon final in early July.

It was inevitable rust would take hold after such a long layoff, and consequently, the intangible quality of mystique took a hit.

“I think to a degree it does,” Raymond said. “To a degree, they’ve certainly lost a little bit of their luster as far as the Williams sisters.

“But at the same time you know they’re going to play well. You know they’re going to compete. You know they’re hungry, probably hungrier than ever now that they’ve been off the tour for so long and they want to come back and establish themselves.

“It works a little bit both ways.”

Williams felt she might have won this match, if not for such a prolonged break from the tour.

“I’d like to think so,” she said. “But what I need to do is put my break behind me and keep moving on with the now and with each match that I play from here and learn from each one.”

Still, a loss is a loss even though she hardly appeared devastated. This was the earliest Williams had lost in Melbourne and the last time she had such a premature exit at a Grand Slam was the 2001 French Open, a first-round loss against Barbara Schett.

“I’m pretty much in shock,” Williams said. “I still can’t believe it. But that’s the way I feel after every loss -- whether I’ve been off or on or what have you. It’s definitely going to settle in this evening. It’ll be like, ‘No!’ ”

Raymond’s coach, Andy Brandi, had his own take on the state of the Williams family mystique.

“I don’t think the mystique is gone,” he said. “But there is rust. And when there is rust it gives people hope.”

Raymond, who next faces 15-year-old wild card Tatiana Golovin of France, appeared to take a page out of the Jana Novotna playbook, keeping Williams off balance with a slice and tactical net approaches, as well as playing the ball down the middle of the court to take away the angles.

Williams’ movement appeared limited in the second set, and she hinted at a problem. “My feet, I couldn’t get them to go,” she said. “My feet were very bad today. Especially at my height, I can’t have bad feet and play well ....But she played good. She had a lot of shots rockin’ and rollin’ today.”

Holding her nerve has been a problem for Raymond in the past, to put it politely. But just when it seemed as though she was starting to wobble, Raymond pulled herself together in the second set and managed to have an easier time holding serve in the last couple of games.

The tiebreaker was tense. Raymond took a 4-1 lead, and Williams stormed back to tie it, 4-4. Two points later, Raymond had her first match point, at 6-4, but Williams erased it with a backhand crosscourt passing shot. Raymond sealed the victory on the next point when Williams sent a forehand wide.

Raymond, who had defeated Martina Hingis when Hingis was No. 1, said this victory rated as one of the biggest of her career. Brandi said they have made a concerted effort to work on Raymond’s mental game since the U.S. Open. Just as important has been her new doubles partner, legend-in-residence Martina Navratilova.

“She’s been great,” Raymond said. “I knew playing doubles with her was not only going to be an unbelievable partnership on the doubles court, but she was going to help my singles. And she has already.

“She sent me a text message this morning and said, ‘Just be brave and believe in yourself.’ I thought about that out there today.”

In other third-round matches, second-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium continued her smooth progress through the draw, defeating Russian teenager Dinara Safina, 6-2, 6-1, in 57 minutes, and No. 9 Chanda Rubin had little difficulty, beating Elena Likhovtseva, 6-3, 6-2. Rubin will next face No. 6 Anastasia Myskina of Russia, who beat compatriot Maria Sharapova, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.