Flipkens ousts Venus in first round at Toronto

TORONTO, Canada: Wimbledon semi-finalist Kirsten Flipkens shook off a slow start to beat Venus Williams 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday at the Rogers Cup, spoiling the seven-time Grand Slam champion's return from injury.

Williams, sidelined by a lower back injury since her first-round French Open exit in May, was quick out of the blocks, pocketing the first set in half an hour.

Flipkens leveled the match with a break in the 10th game of the second frame, and once the 13th-seeded Belgian had forced the third set it was Williams who couldn't keep pace.

Flipkens, who has been nursing a right knee injury herself and hadn't played since falling in the Wimbledon semi-finals to eventual champion Marion Bartoli of France, raced to a 5-0 lead in the third before Williams managed to hold serve.

Flipkens then surrendered a break, but broke Williams to seal the win and book a second-round match in Toronto with Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens.

Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova became the first player to reach the third round of the $2.37 million tournament, shaking off a dismal first-set tiebreaker to upset eighth-seeded German Angelique Kerber 6-7 (0/7), 6-2, 7-5.

Cibulkova won the title at Stanford a fortnight ago, but suffered an early exit last week in Carlsbad.

But after forcing the decisive third set, she was able to find the right balance of steadiness and aggression.

In the day's other second-round contest, third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 6-3.

In other first-round action, 11th-seeded Maria Kirilenko and 16th-seeded Ana Ivanovic advanced. Russia's Kirilenko beat Croatian qualifier Petra Martic 6-2, 6-1 while Serbian Ivanovic beat Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei 6-1, 6-2.

Italy's Francesca Schiavone defeated South African Chanelle Scheepers 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with world number one and top seed Serena Williams.

Meanwhile American Lauren Davis beat former Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 to earn a second-round clash with Bartoli, who is seeded seventh. (AFP)