DUBAI, 1 March 2005 — Venus Williams lost in the first round for the first time in four years when she was upset by Silvia Farina Elia of Italy 7-5, 7-6 in the Dubai Women’s Open yesterday.

Williams’ previous first-round defeat was at the 2001 French Open to Barbara Schett. Williams also lost her first match at Moscow in October 2002 to Magdalena Maleeva but after a first-round bye.

Williams, struggling with a blister on her right palm, fought back from 4-1 down in the first set to 5-5, and climbed back from trailing 5-2 in the second to force a tiebreaker, in which she saved seven match points, before succumbing in 2 hours, 4 minutes.

“It would normally have been a quick match,” said Williams, who made 66 unforced errors.

Farina Elia had lost all nine of her previous matches against the fifth-seeded American since 1997.

“I thought the match would never finish,” said Farina Elia.

Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez and rising Indian star Sania Mirza — the oldest and youngest players in the draw — also reached the second round.

Martinez, 32, defeated Shinobu Asagoe of Japan 6-3, 6-4, while 18-year-old Mirza beat Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-7, 6-4, 6-1.

Also, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro breezed past Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-3, 6-1.

Martinez, who ended a five-year title drought by winning in Pattaya City in January, raced to 5-1 in the first set, and broke Asagoe in the fifth game of the second set.

Mirza, the first Indian woman to win a WTA Tour title this month on home ground at Hyderabad, squandered a 4-1 lead in the first set against Kostanic, who prevailed 7-2 in a tiebreaker.

Mirza, however, regrouped and used her forehand to telling effect to set up a second-round match against US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

“She is a great player,” said Mirza. “But everyone is beatable and I am looking forward to a great match.”

Leading four seeds Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Anastasia Myskina and Kuznetsova received first-round byes.

Earlier, the Dubai tournament made history by becoming the first outside the US Open and Australian Open to offer equal prize money for men and women.

The Dubai Women’s Open, which previously paid $585,000 in total prize money, will pay out $1 million this week, matching the ATP’s Dubai Open, which ended on Sunday with Swiss world No. 1 Roger Federer defeating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.

Arthurs Claims First Career ATP title in Scottsdale

In Scottsdale, Arizona, Wayne Arthurs, who turned pro in 1990, claimed his first career ATP singles title Sunday with a straight-set win over third-seeded Croatian Mario Ancic.

Arthurs, 33, beat Ancic 7-5, 6-3 to claim his first title in 128 tournaments.

“It feels really good, really satisfying, especially now that I’m older,” Arthurs said. “It’s probably more satisfying to win a tournament this late in my career. I’m going to savor every minute of it.”

Ancic had cruised past second seed and defending champion Vincent Spadea of the United States 6-1, 6-4, on Saturday night but was unable to break through for his first tour victory.

Ancic won only eight points off of the unseeded lefthander’s serve in 11 games.

Arthurs finished the week with a tournament-best 74 aces, holding 64 of 65 service games during his run to the title and winning 88 percent of first-serve points.

“I felt I couldn’t miss my serve no matter how hard I hit it,” Arthurs said. “I knew I had to do that, because he’s a great returner.”

“His serve is unbelievably difficult, but he surprised me how well he returned today,” Ancic said. “I knew he was serving big and I would have a tough time, but the way he returned was really impressive.”

To advance to his second career ATP singles final — the only other was at Nottingham in 2002, Arthurs edged Belgian Christophe Rochus in the semifinals.

He became the oldest player to claim his first title on the men’s circuit since Tom Gullikson won in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1985.

Pennetta Outlasts Cervanova for Second Straight title

In Mexico City, top-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta overcame a leg injury to win her second tournament in as many weeks with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Slovakia’s Ludmila Cervanova in the Mexican Open final on Sunday.

The beaten finalist last year, Pennetta appeared to be in control after breaking Cervanova for a 3-2 lead in the first set, before she called on the trainer to work on her injured leg.

The unseeded Slovakian was able to capitalize on the Italian’s lack of mobility on the clay surface to reel off the next four games and take the opening set.

“I started a little bit nervous because she was playing well and I had the problem with my leg which made me more nervous,” Pennetta said.

“Before I had a problem with my right leg and today it was my left, but it’s the final and you have to think more about playing than pain.”

World No. 30 Pennetta regained her composure to trade breaks at the start of the second set and raised her level of play in the 12th game to capture Cervanova’s serve and send the final into a decider.