Venus Williams ousted from Australian Open

The Sports Xchange EditorsNote: updaters to come Venus Williams ousted from Australian Open Johanna Konta pulled off the first major upset of the Australian Open, defeating eighth-seeded Venus Williams 6-4, 6-2 in the first round Tuesday at Melbourne, Australia. Konta, a 24-year-old, Australian-born Englishwoman who is ranked 47th in the world, closed the first set with an ace, then charged to a 5-0 lead in the second set. In the final game, Konta staved off a Williams break point before closing out the victory. "When the draw came out, I just hoped to stay out there more than an hour," Konta said of facing the seven-time Grand Slam champion. "I have strong belief in the way I want to play out there and the way I want be thinking." Konta is playing in the Australian Open main draw for the first time. Other women's singles first-round winners in early matches Tuesday were No. 3 Garbine Muguruza of Spain, No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, No. 15 Madison Keys of the United States, No. 19 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and No. 21 Ekaterina Makarova of Russia. Keys beat Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 7-5 (5), 6-1. No. 13 Milos Raonic of Canada and No. 32 Joao Sousa of Portugal won first-round men's singles matches Tuesday. -----------------------------------------------