TORONTO — Venus Williams shouted "Come On" loud enough for fans to hear her, then covered her mouth to mutter some more words to herself in frustration.
It was that kind of performance for Williams, who waited out a lengthy rain delay only to lose her first-round match at the Rogers Cup 6-0, 6-3 to Germany's Sabine Lisicki on Monday night.
"I really had an off day," Williams said. "It was definitely a long wait and tough to not warm up. My opponent and I were under the same conditions, and she played really well."
Rain washed out most of the matches scheduled in the women's half of the draw, and Williams and Lisicki didn't take the court until after 10 p.m. When they finally started at 10:14, the 14th-seeded Williams wasn't sharp, giving away seven points on double faults.
Lisicki, on the other hand, was strong in her service game and rarely made the kind of mistakes that cost Williams.
"Against Venus you have to play well to be able to beat her," Lisicki said. "You have to be ready and fight for every point, and I'm very pleased with my performance."
Lisicki looked at the draw and knew she had to be prepared from the start of the tournament. She didn't know she'd have to wait more than three hours from the scheduled start time to get going.
Instead of her usual rain-delay ritual of ping-pong, the 24th-ranked player in the world played a game of UNO. After being so dominant against Williams, Lisicki might have to try that again.
During the match, some fans cheered on Lisicki but many tried to encourage Williams as she struggled. To no avail.
"It's hard to just, first round, play a player who doesn't give you any rhythm," Williams said. "Just a tough draw and bad luck."
Only one other singles match was completed Monday, as Ottawa's Gabriel Dabrowski lost 6-4, 6-1 to Italy's Flavia Pennetta on centre court.
The weather forced a crowded schedule for Tuesday, which will feature Westmount, Que.'s Eugenie Bouchard against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic on centre court to start the night session.
World No. 1 Serena Williams, who has 14 more Grand Slam titles than her sister, faces Pennetta in second-round action Tuesday afternoon.
Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill, Ont., will face American Madison Brengle in the afternoon after that Monday match was rained out.
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