Injured Venus forced to retire in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia - Venus Williams had played 251 major singles matches and never once been forced to retire because of injury.

It took all of four minutes for that streak to end.

The seven-time major winner spent more than 48 hours agonizing over whether she'd be ready for the third round of the Australian Open. She decided to go ahead, hoping enough adrenaline would kick in to allow her to play through the pain.

The fourth-seeded Williams was ailing after her second-round win, her ability to move restricted. Waiting for her in the third round was 30th-seeded Andrea Petkovic. Williams took the court on a cool Friday night at Rod Laver Arena "just hoping for some magic." The match was over almost before it began. Williams won just one of the seven points before she bent over in pain, clutching her right side. She knew she had to stop.

"A lot of times when you play . . . you get this adrenaline that blocks pain," she said. "But I just didn't get enough of that today. Obviously, I just couldn't play. I couldn't move. It was too painful."

The lunge to her right side on the last point aggravated a muscle in her hip that she hurt Wednesday night against Sandra Zahlavova.

"I've never had to retire from a Grand Slam, especially after working so hard to pull out the match the other day,'' Williams said. "It's super disappointing because this is just not how I envisioned my Australian Open being."