DUBAI — Defending champion Venus Williams is out of the Dubai Tennis Championships after losing Wednesday in the third round in straight sets to 11th-seeded Lucie Safarova. The eighth-seeded Venus looked listless in the humid 93 degree F (34 C) temperatures as Safarova cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 victory. “I think she played awesome,” Venus said. “There were a couple of games there that I didn't even get my racket on the ball. What can I say to that?“ Venus offered Safarova six opportunities to break serve and the Czech player took advantage four times, twice in each set. Venus also lost an unbeaten record stretching back a decade in the loss. Joining Venus on the sidelines was fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who lost to unseeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-4, 6-2. Sixth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia reached the quarterfinals by beating Zarina Dyas of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4. Second-seeded Petra Kvitova and fourth-seeded Ana Ivanovic followed Venus to an early exit. In all, five of the top eight seeded players failed to reach Thursday's quarterfinals: Kvitova, Ivanovic, No. 5 Radwanska, No. 7 Angelique Kerber and No. 8 Williams. Kvitova, the reigning Wimbledon champion, went down 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to 13th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro, while Ivanovic fell to 17th-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Seventh-seeded Angelique Kerber was ousted by 10th-seeded Flavia Penetta 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. Nadal shines on clay In Rio, top-seeded Rafael Nadal defeated Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil at the Rio Open Tuesday, winning 6-4, 6-1 in his first clay-court match of the season. Nadal had already suffered two early-season losses away from his favored clay surface, so the red clay was a welcome change. Second-seeded David Ferrer also advanced, defeating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-4, 6-3. No. 4 Fabio Fognini beat Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-1, 7-6 (7) to reach the second round. On the women's side, No. 1 Sara Errani of Italy defeated Brazilian Teliana Pereira 6-3, 6-3. No. 3 Roberta Vinci of Italy won 7-6 (4), 6-3 against Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic. Matosevic upset Isner In Delray Beach, Marinko Matosevic ousted No. 2 seed John Isner 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Delray Beach Open Tuesday. Marinko Matosevic had never beaten Isner in three previous meetings, all in 2014. Sam Querrey felt good when he arrived in Delray Beach. He was in top physical shape and confident after a semifinal showing in Memphis last week. But with one false move during his first match at the Delray Beach Open, Querrey injured his back and retired while leading Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia 6-3, 1-2. In other matches, top-seeded Kevin Anderson earned a 6-3, 6-3 win over Australian qualifier John-Patrick Smith. Monfils saves 5 set points In France, seventh-seeded Gael Monfils of France saved five set points on the way to a 6-1, 7-6 (12) win against teenager Alexander Zverev in the first round of the Open 13 tournament Tuesday. Monfils next faces Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov, who beat Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. — Agencies
