Toronto, Aug 7: Venus Williams lost in her first match in more than two months, falling 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 Tuesday to Kirsten Flipkens at the Rogers Cup
Williams lost in the first round of the French Open on May 26. The 33-year-old also missed Wimbledon, after 16 consecutive appearances, because of a lower back injury.
"I wasn't really expecting to play that well in the first set," Williams said. "So I think that in the second, I just kind of didn't handle it well. But I was pretty close there to closing that match out and then got down in the third."
Maria Kirilenko and Ana Ivanovic won in straight sets to advance to the second round. Kirilenko cruised past qualifier Petra Martic 6-2, 6-1, and Ivanovic defeated Su-Wei Hsieh 6-1, 6-2.
In other matches, American qualifier Lauren Davis edged Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, and Dominika Cibulkova stopped Angelique Kerber 6-7 (0), 6-2, 7-5 in the Rexall Centre at York University.
Cibulkova needed nearly 3 hours to win the match.
"My serve was not working like I was expecting," she said. "But in the end I made it, so I was really happy."
Jelena Jankovic needed three sets to defeat qualifier Anna Tatishvili 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3.
Ekaterina Makarova beat Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 7-5, and Alize Cornet topped Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-3.
American Sloane Stephens made her debut at the Rogers Cup with a 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory over Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic in the opening round.
The 17th-ranked Stephens will face Germany's Mona Barthel on Wednesday.
