MIAMI (Florida), March 25: Second seed Venus Williams surrendered to fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 in a fourth-round match at the 6.2 million dollar WTA and ATP Masters Series event on Monday.

As Williams and the No. 22 ranked Shaughnessy headed onto the court, spectators streamed out of the stadium maybe thinking that Williams would win quickly.

A less than half filled stadium watched a dazzling match that featured an extremely competitive first set and the unravelling of Williams throughout the second.

Williams’s game turned unruly in the second set as balls flew well beyond the boundaries of the court or found their way into the bottom of the net. Shaughnessy was stunning as she raced through to a 5-0 lead in the second set.

In the last two games of the match, Williams began looking more like her usual self on court and there were some very dramatic points.

Williams saved eight match points - four on her own serve in the sixth game and four on Shaughnessy’s serve in the final game.

One of many errant shots for Williams in the one hour, 28 minute match was a forehand that sailed crosscourt and well beyond the baseline. It ended her chances of winning a third title at the hard-court tournament.

At 15-0 in the final game, she hit a backhand volley that landed across the net, bounced high and then landed back on her side of the court to make it 30-0 in her favour in the final game.

Initially, Williams took control of the match, winning the first three games of the opening set.

Shaughnessy countered that offence by winning the next three games and then the two battled it out for the remainder of the first set.

Shaughnessy heads into the quarter-finals against Jennifer Capriati, a player she’s only one won set against in six matches played.

In another intriguing match, Australian wildcard recipient Mark Philippoussis kept his composure and his game in tact to land a fourth round slot with a 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 win over Swede Thomas Enqvist.

Philippoussis rebounded from a 4-1 deficit in the first set to take a momentary 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker, but ended up on the losing side of the set.

Despite the disappointment, Philippoussis dogged Enqvist until he won the second set in a tiebreaker and broke the Swede’s serve in the third and ninth games of the third set to secure the victory.

Results: Men:

Third round: Andre Agassi bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 6-0; Roger Federer bt Juan Ignacio; Chela 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; Albert Costa bt Nicolas Massu 7-6 (8/6), 6-2; Younes El Aynaoui bt David Nalbandian 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Sjeng Schalken bt Franco Squillari 6-4, 7-5; Guillermo Coria bt Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 7-6 (7/4); Nicolas Lapentti bt Wayne Ferreira 6-4, 6-2; Mark Philippoussis bt Tomas Enqvist 6-7(6/8) 7-6(3/7) 6-3

Women:

Fourth round: Serena Williams bt Iroda Tulyaganova 6-0, 6-4; Meghann Shaughnessy bt Venus Williams 7-6 (7/2), 6-1; Kim Clijsters bt Anna Pistolesi 6-1, 6-1; Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Marlene Weingartner 6-2, 6-2; Jennifer Capriati bt Sarah Taylor 6-1 6-0; Marion Bartoli bt Lindsay Davenport 6-0, retired; Chanda Rubin bt Amelie Mauresmo 6-0, 6-2; Jelena Dokic bt Alicia Molik 6-1 6-4,—AFP