Venus Williams makes successful return after injury

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, Feb 20 (Reuters) Former world number one Venus Williams made a winning comeback after four months out through injury as she beat Japan's Akiko Morigami 6-1 2-6 6-4 in the first round of the Memphis International.

In only her second match since July because of knee and wrist problems, the seventh seed was understandably rusty but overcame eight double faults to battle to victory yesterday.

Williams, who has slipped to 54 in the rankings, won the first set in 25 minutes but as her serve malfunctioned, she was broken three times as Morigami levelled the match.

But two poor errors from the world number 65 handed the American the break in the seventh game of the decider and Williams held on to advance to a meeting with 16-year-old Dane Caroline Wozniacki.

REUTERS PM KN0904