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ZURICH : Serena Williams retired from the Zurich Open with a right adductor injury after losing the first nine games to Swiss left-hander Patty Schnyder on Tuesday. The sixth-seeded American had in the past two weeks reached the Stuttgart quarter-finals and then lost to Elena Dementieva in the Moscow final. But she came on court with her right thigh taped and then barely competed, hitting with no conviction or purpose. After losing the opening three games she briefly left the court with the trainer and returned with the tape removed, but it did nothing to improve her fortunes. Williams did not appear too distressed after the match, and revealed that she had little idea how she developed the injury. "Yesterday I had a really good practice and was feeling really good," said Williams, who on Monday secured her place in the season-ending Sony Ericsson WTA Championships in Madrid. "Then today I felt it completely out of the blue right before I went to warm up. It was really weird. "The physio said in Moscow when my right knee was hurting that I was over-compensating, and that probably had something to do with it. They told me I should be fine for Madrid. I just need to take a day off or two." Schnyder tried to ignore her opponent's distress and just concentrate on what she was doing. "I was just trying to focus on my game, and I didn't miss and really played well" said Schnyder. "I still had to play some good shots and to be able to return, and mentally to keep it together. "Serena needs some rest always after like two weeks of tournaments, but I really like that she made the effort and came here. She was here trying to play at her best. Her body didn't work out, but I like that she tried." Amelie Mauresmo defeated Greek qualifier Eleni Daniilidou 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 but both players struggled to find their best form with Daniilidou hampered by an injured left ankle that had her in tears as she received treatment at the end of the first set. Mauresmo tried to pressure her opponent at the net but made too many volley errors as well as leaving herself exposed to Daniilidou's passing shots. After sneaking the first set she struggled in the second, holding serve just once and only then after saving break point. But the Frenchwoman finally found some rhythm in the final set, with better movement and her volleys finding the right spots. "I'm not playing my best tennis for a few weeks, for a few months, and it would have been a great surprise to me to all of a sudden in the first round here to play my best tennis," said Mauresmo. "The main thing was to win it because I didn't have that many wins recently. "It always feel good to get through these kind of matches, and that's all I'm focusing on really, going through and having the opportunity to play another match and to improve these few things I need to improve." Russian Vera Zvonareva struggled at first against Italian qualifier Karin Knapp, but then snapped into gear to win 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 and line up a clash with top seeded Belgian Justine Henin. Austria's Sybille Bammer earned a meeting with second seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova by beating Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-2.
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Health
