By Chris Davies
April 15 2004

Former World Number One Serena Williams comeback from 8 months off with a knee injury took a blow today as she was forced to withdraw from her clash with Conchita Martinez due to a knee injury. Now whats next? Williams, the former world number one, claimed an easy victory in the second round and looked to have rid of her sore knees she complained of last week.

This is a shock for tennis supporters as everbody thought that Serena who took longer than expected to come back has she did not want to rush things was over the injury. The Family Circle Cup has suffered some big name withdrawals, firstly Henin-Hardenne the defending champion due to a low blood sugar level, Meghann Shaughnessy due to a injury and Amelie Mauresmo with a reoccuring back strain.

And there was more shock news as Jennifer Capriati who is still struggling to make a successful comeback lost in a tightly battled third round against Petra Mandula. The Hungarian who did reach the quarter-finals of the French Open 3 years ago beat Jelena Dokic in the last round and looks comfortable on the clay courts.

Capriati will now look at the red clay of Europe to salvage some reputation on the tour, she went down 7-6, 3-6, 7-5.

Good news for Americans though has Lindsay Davenport continued her impressive display on the surface and could be in contention with winning back to back titles. The number 5th seed overpowered Australian Nicole Pratt 6-1, 6-1. She awaits the winner of Elena Dementieva and Patty Schnyder.

Vera Zvonareva stormed through the first set over her match against Israeli number 13th seed 6-0 but was then pegged back to one set all with Pistolesi claiming 6-3. The Russian who faired well on last years clay court season held her nerve to win the third set 6-3 and now meets either Venus Williams or Switzerlands Marie Gaineh-Mikaelian.


Third Round Results

(16) C MARTINEZ (ESP) bt (2) S WILLIAMS (USA)
Walkover

J Kostanic (Cro) bt D Randriantefy (Mad)
6-3, 6-1

(9) V ZVONAREVA (RUS) bt (13) A SMASHNOVA-PISTOLESI (ISR)
6-0, 3-6, 6-3

P Mandula (Hun) bt (7) J CAPRIATI (USA)
7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 7-5