Venus digs deep to defeat unseeded Dushevina

Venus Williams had to dig deep to avoid one of the most shocking upsets of her illustrious career as she beat little-known Russian Vera Dushevina 6-7 7-5 6-3 in a first-round marathon at the US Open.

Williams was down a set and a service break before hitting her stride late in the match to overpower the 47th-ranked Dushevina before nearly 24,000 fans on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

"I had a lot of help from the fans here," Williams, a two-times winner at Flushing Meadows, said during a courtside interview.

"I felt so much energy from everyone when I was serving to stay in the match in the second set. It feels good to play at home."

The seven-times grand slam winner won the final three games of the second set and first four of the decider against the demoralised 22-year-old Russian.

Williams committed 54 unforced errors and had 10 double faults but won the match in two hours and 43-minutes to set up a second-round date against American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Three games into the match Williams was forced to take an injury break because of nagging tendinitis in her left knee.

She emerged with the knee wrapped and played tentatively until her power game resurfaced midway through the second set.

"I'm not one to complain," she said.

"Everyone has injuries they're dealing with. I did my best tonight despite anything I was going through. In the next round, I'm just going to do my best to get prepared."

Dushevina had Williams on the ropes but was unable to land the knockout punch. She entered the match with just two wins in 27 matches against top-10 players, and one of those triumphs was because of an opponent's injury.

"She played so well," said Williams.

"She moved so well. She did so many things so well today."

Kuznetsova wins

Russian sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced to the second round of the US Open yesterday by defeating Germany's Julia Goerges 6-3 6-2 in 62 minutes.

Reigning French Open champion Kuznetsova next plays the winner of a later match between Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn and Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova.

Kuznetsova, who won her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2004 US Open, surrendered two early breaks to fall behind 3-2 in the first set, slamming her racket in anger, but rolled from there, winning 10 of the final 12 games.