Serena WIlliams turns it on after slow start at U.S. Open
NEW YORK – After spending just 30 minutes on court Monday night in her first match at the U.S. Open, Serena Williams got a challenge – and a legitimate one – in her second-round battle with Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.
Williams trailed by 3-5 in the first set and then 4-0 in the tiebreak against the world No. 110, battling back both times to secure the opening set and then advancing in a 7-6(5), 6-3 effort Wednesday.
She’ll meet fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the third round Friday.
“I focused and thought, ‘One point at a time,’” Williams said on court of her comebacks. “I think being down a lot [this season], I know I can try and make a comeback. I never stop. I always keep going and do the best that I can.”
Williams keeps going into the round of 32 on the continued chase for a calendar year Grand Slam. The world No. 1 is now five matches away from winning all four majors this season, trying to become the first player in the sport to do so since Steffi Graf in 1988.
“Today I was a little tight,” said Williams, who hit 23 winners but also committed 34 unforced errors. “I think it showed. Hopefully I can get back to where I was before in my next match.”
The win gives Williams a 50th match victory of the 2015 season. She’s lost just two matches outright (separate from retirements or withdrawals): to Petra Kvitova in Madrid and Belinda Bencic in Toronto.
Williams and Mattek-Sands, the 30-year-old who is into her first U.S. Open third round after a decisive win over compatriot CoCo Vandeweghe, play for the third time, but first since 2008. Williams owns a 2-0 head-to-head lead.
“I’m focused on me and how I play,” Mattek-Sands told reporters. “I know how Serena’s going to come. She plays aggressive, big.”
That aggressive and big game plan wasn’t on target Wednesday for Williams. So much so that she returned to the practice court after her win – in which she hit 10 double faults – and worked with coach Patrick Mouratoglou for some 45 minutes.
“Patrick told me some things that he saw that he thought I could work on to improve [my serve] and to get better,” Williams said.
Mattek-Sands is a complicated foe. She is currently ranked No. 101 in singles as she makes her way back from yet another injury (left hip), and owns Grand Slam doubles titles this year in both Australia and at the French Open. She shocked Ana Ivanovic en route to the third round at Wimbledon.
But she’s a dangerous enough opponent that Williams said she plans to be on her toes from the start.
“Knowing that she's capable of having big wins kind of relaxes me because I know she's going to come out and I know what to expect,” Williams said. “She's going to give 300%. She's a huge fighter.”
In a way Wednesday felt like the real start to Williams’ U.S. Open. Monday night her opponent, Russian Vitalia Diatchenko, retired down 6-0, 2-0 after just 30 minutes. Williams lost just five points in the abbreviated and strange encounter.
“I definitely feel like I was a little colder,” Williams said. “But I played in Cincinnati. I played in Toronto. I've been practicing every day. I mean, that is no excuse. I just felt I should have [been] – and am – fine.”
Williams will have to continue to press herself to be just that: Fine. The Grand Slam – and the pressure that goes along with it – will only grow over the next 10 days as she’s set to play five more matches with history hanging over her head – and the court.
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