By Chris Oddo | Tuesday July 21, 2015
Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko stunned Venus Williams in Istanbul for her biggest win since 2012 on Tuesday.
Photo Source: Istanbul Cup
Top-seeded Venus William’s first visit to Istanbul in eight years was a short one.
Scores and Results: Bastad, Bad Gastein, Umag, Istanbul and More
The American was knocked off by Ukranian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-4, 7-6(4), at the Istanbul Cup, marking the first time that the 28-year-old Bondarenko has taken down a Top 20 player since June of 2012.
Bondarenko, who took nearly two years off from 2012 to 2014 after giving birth to her first daughter, has spent the last year improving her ranking from well outside the Top 1000 to her current perch at 119. She has played mainly ITF Challenger and qualifying events and has managed a 2-6 win this season at the tour level.
After taking an early 3-0 lead in set one, Williams bounced back to bring the opener back on serve, but the American was broken while serving to stay alive in the set at 4-5.
Bondarenko also grabbed the early lead in set two, but Williams rallied from 5-2 down to grab a 6-5 lead and a chance to serve for the set. But she was broken and the pair headed to a tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker Williams lost three of her final four points on serve, including a botched overhead at 2-3 and a badly placed volley error at 4-5. Her backhand sailed into the net on Bondarenko’s first match point, sending the former world No. 29 into the second round.
Bondarenko, who gave birth to her daughter Karin in 2013, has now defeated Williams on two consecutive occasions. In 2009 she defeated Williams for her only career Top 3 win.
Williams wasn’t the only high seed to fall on Tuesday in Istanbul. Third-seeded Jelena Jankovic fell to Urszula Radwanska in three sets, while fourth-seeded Alize Cornet and fifth-seeded Camila Giorgi advanced.
Get all of Tuesday’s live scores here