Wimbledon champion Venus Williams overcame an injury scare to beat Indian Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-3 in a tennis exhibition game in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Williams was forced to leave the court for about 15 minutes due to a left thigh injury when she trailed it 3-2 following one set broken.

But the five-time Grand Slam winner turned to a different person after the timeout to break Sania three times in a row on her return.

Williams said what she suffered is a new injury but she had yet to find out the exact problem.

"It was pretty rough. I'm not sure what it was but I'm going to try my best to find out.

"I really couldn't move. I did the best I could. I hope you guys enjoyed the match but usually I'm a whole lot faster."

However, the injury did come at a bad time for the Indian sensation, who admitted that the lengthy injury break had been frustrating.

"Maybe it did break my rhythm a bit -- it's kind of cold out there so it's a bit harder when you're left for 15 minutes and then you're coming off," Mirza said.

"But that's part of the game, no excuses. I had a lot of fun out there."

It was Williams' second win over Mirza in two meetings after her 6-3, 6-2 victory in Stanford, California, last year. She is next to play Kim Clijsters.

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2006)