Serena Williams Rallies to Reach French Open Third Round
(May 31, 2018) Serena Williams had fight from a set and a break down to beat 17th seeded Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round of the French Open on Thursday, just before the sun set.
It took until the second game of the second set for the 23-time champion to appear. Williams’ movement and shots came to life and she pumped herself up with shouts of “Come on!”
In the end, Williams hit 27 winners with nine aces.
“I lost the first set and I thought you know I’ve got to try harder. I’ve got to just try harder and Serena came out,” Williams said on court after the match with much laughter.
“Every day is a great day for me,” she continued. “I’m excited to play singles, doubles, whatever. I’m going to be fighting my heart out.”
“It such a great feeling,”
Having her serve broken twice in the first set, making 12 unforced errors, she had her serve broken again to begin the second set. After that, the woman who holds the Open Era record for major singles titles was back. She won four straight games to take a 4-1 lead over the Australian, take the set 6-3. She broke Barty in the third game to take a 2-1 lead and she never looked back.
“I felt like it’s been a long way and a long journey, and I’m still getting there, “Williams said to media. “But I have been working really hard for a really long time. You know, I just am hoping that every day I’m out there, every match I’m out there, hopeful it will come together.”
“I felt like in the first set I didn’t play bad. I just didn’t make any shots. So I guess it is bad. But I had all the right ideas, like, coming to the net and hitting all my shots. They just weren’t going in. For me, that was kind of like a positive thing, because it wasn’t like I was playing the ultimate match. I was just making so many errors. So I was, like, I’ve got to cut down on the errors, and I’ve just got to come out here and fight. And that’s what I did.”
“I have definitely always had that (competitive spirit) will to win. It was something I was born with, thank goodness. Yeah, you know, this is a Grand Slam. You know, this is my first one back. You know, I want to do the best that I can. I want to be able to, you know, just do my best and one day tell my daughter that I tried my best. When I was out there, that’s all I was just trying to do, is just do that.”
“If I were to play my former self, I’m not sure I would win. But I can’t say I would lose. And thank God I don’t have to do that. So it works out great for me. But, yeah, this is just my third tournament back and I have had a long break since my last one, so I’m probably not where I was before I left. But the good news is I feel like I’m definitely going to get there. And I don’t want to get there, I want to get beyond there. I don’t want to limit myself. That’s what I want to look forward to doing.”
Asked about how enthusiastic the crowd was during her match, Williams said to media: “You know, it was kind of fun to have the crowd so excited and doing the wave. It was definitely interesting. Actually, sometimes as a player, it’s a little frustrating because you want to get the match on. This time around, I was just taking it in and enjoying the moment. Then I wasn’t sure what to do. Like, should I serve? Should I not serve? When it’s that close, you just keep going and you keep fighting. The last few games, I just kept doing that. Won a few or lost a few. But I just kept doing the best I could for today.”
The next test for the three-time Roland Garros winner will come from 11th seed Julia Goerges of Germany. The German beat Alison Van Uytvanck 7-5, 7-6 (5).
Women’s Results
May 31, 2018
Roland Garros
May 27 – June 10, 2018
Paris, France
$20,298,331
Singles – Second Round
[1] S. Halep (ROU) d. [W] T. Townsend (USA) 63 61
[3] G. Muguruza (ESP) d [W] F. Ferro (FRA) 64 63
[6] Ka. Pliskova (CZE) d L. Safarova (CZE) 36 64 61
[7] C. Garcia (FRA) d S. Peng (CHN) 64 36 63
[11] J. Goerges (GER) d A. Van Uytvanck (BEL) 75 76(5)
[12] A. Kerber (GER) d A. Bogdan (ROU) 62 63
L. Tsurenko (UKR) d (15) C. Vandeweghe (USA) 36 64 60
[16] E. Mertens (BEL) d H. Watson (GBR) 63 64
S. Williams (USA) d [17] A. Barty (AUS) 36 63 64
[18] K. Bertens (NED) d A. Sasnovich (BLR) 64 62
[19] M. Rybarikova (SVK) d B. Bencic (SUI) 62 64
[24] D. Gavrilova (AUS) d B. Pera (USA) 57 75 63 – saved one match point
I. Begu (ROU) d [27] S. Zhang (CHN) 63 64
[28] M. Sharapova (RUS) d D. Vekic (CRO) 75 64
S. Stosur (AUS) d [30] A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 62 76(1)
A. Petkovic (GER) d B. Mattek-Sands (USA) 60 76(5)
Doubles – First Round
[2] Sestini Hlavackova/Strycova (CZE/CZE) d L.Kichenok/Tsurenko (UKR/UKR) 64 36 61
[3] Klepac/Martínez Sánchez (SLO/ESP) d Adamczak/Y.Wang (AUS/CHN) 60 64
[6] Krejcikova/Siniakova (CZE/CZE) d Lapko/Olaru (BLR/ROU) 57 63 62
[11] Atawo/Groenefeld (USA/GER) d Diyas/Zheng (KAZ/CHN) 64 26 62
Arruabarrena/Srebotnik (ESP/SLO) d [12] Mertens/Schuurs (BEL/NED) 36 63 76(5)
Bara/Buzarnescu (ROU/ROU) d Knoll/Smith 67(3) 63 64
Brady/King (USA/USA) d Kalinskaya/Makarova (RUS/RUS) 63 64
Hibino/Kalashnikova (JPN/GEO) d Gavrilova/Kasatkina (AUS/RUS) 63 76(3)
Kuzmova/Rybarikova (SVK/SVK) d Blinkova/Hradecka (RUS/CZE) 61 67(4) 75
Jakupovic/Khromacheva (SLO/RUS) d Broady/Linette (GBR/POL) 62 63
Christian/Witthoeft (USA/GER) d Irigoyen/Kozlova (ARG/UKR) 46 63 61
Errani/Flipkens (ITA/BEL) d [WC] Burel/Parry (FRA/FRA) 64 62
Golubic/Stojanovic (SUI/SRB) d [WC] Hesse/Parmentier (FRA/FRA) 60 62
