NEW YORK, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Venus Williams continues her
quest to claim her first U.S. Open crown since 2001 when she
faces sixth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany in a second-round
night match on Thursday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Williams, who also won the title in 2000, is on the comeback
trail after withdrawing from the U.S. Open ahead of her
second-round match a year ago with an autoimmune disease.
Younger sister Serena will also be in action at the National
Tennis Center on Thursday when the fourth seed and three-time
champion faces Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in a
second-round match.
On the men's side, world number one Roger Federer, gunning
for his sixth title at Flushing Meadows, will take on Germany's
Bjorn Phau, ranked 83rd, in a second-round affair.
Venus, formerly the top-ranked player in the world, is
convinced she can make the climb back into the top 10 despite
tumbling to her current spot at 46.
"I'm looking forward to the top 10, all that great stuff,"
said the 32-year-old, seven-times grand slam winner. "I feel
like I have it in me."
Venus beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3 6-1 in her first-round
match, while Kerber routed Britain's Anne Keothavong 6-2 6-0.
In other matches, 12th seed Ana Ivanovic, also a former
top-ranked player, takes on Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden while, on
the men's side, fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France battles
Slovakian Martin Klizan, ranked 50th.
The 31-year-old Federer, who lost to Serbian Novak Djokovic
in the U.S. Open semi-finals last year, said he enjoys New York
but it may not be too good for his tennis game.
"The distractions are big here just because you almost enjoy
your time too much," the Swiss said. "Not meaning you go party,
but you do too many things maybe you shouldn't be doing.
"Maybe when you come on court your mind is still elsewhere,
those kinds of things. Whereas in Wimbledon, you rent your
house, you're full on tennis. All you do is you watch tennis.
You eat and breathe tennis.
"When you come here, you go out at night for dinners. You
catch up with friends. You do maybe watch things on TV from time
to time. There's many more things you can follow and do, so that
brings challenges automatically with it."
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