for a place in the final. serena williams played her first competitive match for six months as she took on bernarda pera at the lexington open. the number one seed, who was last in action at a fed cup qualifier, started slowly, losing the first set a—6, in kentucky. pera had two chances to take a decisive break in the second but williams fought back, levelling the match. she then moved up the gears to take the third, 6—a, and will play her sister venus wiliams in the second round. to the world snooker championship, where the ‘crucible curse‘ has struck again — defending champion judd trump is out after a 13—9 quarterfinal defeat to kyren wilson. trailing by four frames, overnight, the world number one got it back to 11—9 before wilson pulled clear and he‘ll now play anthony mcgill in the last four. trump had been hoping to break the so—called curse by becoming the only first—time winner to retain his title since the tournament moved to its current venue, in sheffield, in 1977.