Venus Williams' match stretches two continents

Venus Williams played an exhibition match with Turkey's number one seed, Ipek Senoglu, early Sunday morning on the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul ahead of the Istanbul WTA Tour tournament 2005. The court spanning Europe and Asia was set up on the bridge making it a truly inter-continental match. The WTA tour will be held on the courts of Crown Plaza May 16-21. The bridge was closed Sunday morning between 7-7.45 for the match between the two tennis stars.Speaking after the match to the press Venus Williams said, "Even if I had seen it my dreams I wouldn't have believed that I had played such an exciting match." Turkey's star tennis player Ipek Senoglu said, "With an organization like this you can see that we are presenting to the rest of the world that tennis in Turkey is in progress. To play with Venus is important but to play on the bridge is more important, because to play between two continents is a very original idea." Attending the match was Youth and Sports general Manager Mehmet Atalay, Motorcycle Federation President Bekir Yunus Ucar, and Istanbul Youth and Sport Manager Il Tamer Taspinar. Following the match Williams and Senoglu threw the balls into the sea. Williams was presented with a plaque from the organization committee as a thanks for playing such an interesting and exciting match.Â