Venus Williams lost in straight sets to world number four Victoria Azarenka at the Tennis Pon de Rock exhibition in Barbados.
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Williams has made a gentle return to the circuit with a series of exhibition matches ahead of her full comeback in 2012. The five-time Wimbledon champion revealed at the US Open that she suffers from an auto-immune disease called Sjorgen's syndrome.
She's been putting in some encouraging performances but Azarenka proved just too strong in Barbados, winning 6-4, 6-3. Nevertheless, Venus was happy with her performance.
"Despite losing I felt good out there," she told the Barbados Advocate newspaper. "Victoria played well and I missed a couple of crucial shots. But my performance gives me hope that I can play at the Australian Open next year. Today gave me a lot of hope indeed."
"I'm really hoping to keep up my fitness leading into 2012 but I'm not going to raise my expectations for any major results. My aim for 2012 is to get back in to the top of the rankings and of course London (2012 Olympic Games) will be the highlight for me. I can play for three medals, so you never know what might happen. Plus, the Olympic tournament will be played at Wimbledon, one of my favorite venues in the world. I’m definitely excited for it."
Later on John Isner took victory over Gael Monfils in a more light-hearted men's singles encounter.
