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Venus backed up her Acapulco title with victory in the Billie Jean King cup earlier today in Madison Square Garden.
The exhibition event featured Venus, Ana Ivanovic, Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova, with the format two one-set semi finals then a full match to decide the winner in the final.
Venus rallied from an early break down to overcome Svetlana 6-4, while the Belgian US Open champ had to overcome a spirited return to form from Ivanovic and won a tiebreak 7-2 to proceed to the final. She went a break up in the final against the American before a poor volley on break point down let Venus back at 4-4, and she broke serve in the final game to clinch the win 6-4 3-6 7-5.
World number six Venus Williams edged out Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki at the rain-interrupted Hong Kong Tennis Classic on Thursday as both missed out on valuable preparation for the Australian Open.
Both are using the annual exhibition event as preparation for the first grand slam of the year, but were frustratingly able to play just one set at Victoria Park due to a four-hour rain delay as Williams prevailed 6-4 in 50 entertaining minutes.
After the duo shared early beaks, Williams crucially broke the 19-year-old world number four for a 4-3 lead before recovering from 0-30 to serve out the match despite 13 unforced errors.
"It is nice to be hitting the ball so good against a competitive player who is so tough and hits the ball so well," said 29-year-old Williams, who owns a 4-0 career record against the Dane.
"Overall, I am feeling good. Practice is so different than a match, in a match you have to focus on executing."
Williams lost to world number 14 Maria Sharapova in another exhibition in Thailand last week and was frustrated with the lack of match practice against Wozniacki, but was cautious of picking up an injury at the start of the season.
"After being off for two months I am just getting back into the swing of things and playing matches," added Williams, who landed two WTA titles last year.
"I am feeling back in the swing of things and it was good to serve the set out and to come back from a break down, so it was good to have those experiences this early."
HUA HIN, Thailand — Maria Sharapova outplayed an error-prone Venus Williams to take a 6-3, 6-4 victory in an exhibition match on Saturday.
In a warm-up ahead of this month's Australian Open, Sharapova converted 75 percent of her break points, against just 13 percent by Williams.
Williams struggled to keep the ball in play.
Sharapova, the world No. 14, displayed a solid baseline game in putting away Williams in 1 hour, 34 minutes, and recording her first win over the American since 2007.
Sharapova broke Williams three times to take the first set in 49 minutes. The second set was on serve until the final game when Williams missed two forehands to lose the match.
Williams, who is chasing her first Australian Open title, acknowledged she was a little off the pace after the off-season.
"Maria played so well," Williams said. "I was slow in my first match of the season."
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