Williams responds after doubles defeat

ATHENS, Greece -- A day after her bid for a second straight doubles gold medal ended, Venus Williams beat Maja Matevzic of Slovenia 6-0, 6-0, Tuesday to reach the third round in singles, where she's also the defending champion.
It's the first shutout for a man or woman since tennis returned to the Olympics as a medal sport in 1988. The whole thing took just 39 minutes and Williams had her doubles defeat in mind the whole time.
"I'm still in shock. I'm not used to losing, especially in a first round. It's pretty tough," she said. "That really affected the way I played today. I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I usually let it go. It bothered me a whole lot."
While she wasn't exactly facing the best of the best -- Matevzic's ranking slid out of the top 250 because she missed most of this season with a left wrist injury -- the rout did wonders for the four-time Slam champion's psyche.
"Playing like that just builds my confidence even more for the upcoming rounds," said Williams, who plays two-time major champion Mary Pierce today. "Just puts an extra boost in my step and makes me feel even more positive, and helps me move on from yesterday."
The day didn't go nearly as well for Roger Federer. Twice in a span of about 3 1/2 hours, the best tennis player in the world lost. First came the more surprising setback: 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 to Tomas Berdych, an 18-year-old from the Czech Republic who came to the Summer Games with a 4-10 record this year. After a brief break, Federer and doubles partner Yves Allegro were eliminated 6-2, 7-6 (7) by Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi of India.
Andy Roddick barely stuck around by saving three match points and hanging on to beat 2000 silver medalist Tommy Haas, 6-4, 3-6, 9-7.
That put the U.S. Open champion in the third round against No. 16 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.
Normally as consistent as they come, Federer made 59 unforced errors and conjured up only 19 winners. He double-faulted 10 times and lost his serve on four occasions, including in the final game.
Associated Press
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