Venus Williams leaves Melbourne head down. The American bowed at her opening match of women’s singles at the Australian Open. She was beaten by Ekaterina Makarova 2 sets to 1 after 2:29 minutes of play.

The former World No. 1 who had never lost to Russian wins the first set after a half-hour exchange, 6/2. The second round is more competitive. At 3 games everywhere, Makarova (22nd in the WTA) will take the service of Williams but cannot confirm. Back to 4-4, the 37th player in the WTA rankings is once again tracked down. Break confirmed, the two ladies are set to 1 everywhere.

Venus Williams, who reached the third round of the first Grand Slam of the season last year, quickly leads 3-0 in the final set. Ekaterina Makaravo concatenates five games to lead 5-3. Venus came back to make it 5-4 but must pack her racket on the performance of her opponent who eventually won 2/6, 6/4, 6/4.

In the second round the Russian will face another American Irina Falconi femme fatale of Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6/ 3, 6/ 1.