Serena Williams survived a round two test today in the US Open, having to battle her way to the third round, with victory over 110th ranked Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.
Playing erratically and out-of-sorts, Serena conceded her second game of the first set and allow Kiki run away 2-1
Kiki served and made it 3-1. But Serena clawed her way back, the way she normally does when her back is against the rope, levelling the set at 5-5 and then going on to win the tie break, amazingly though she trailed 4-0 in the opening.
She had the second set much under control and won 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
She said afterwards about having to come from behind in grand slam almost all the time: “It definitely doesn’t worry me. I think being down a lot, I know I can try to make a comeback.”
The six-time US Open champion would end the match with 10 double faults, and 34 errors to 23 winners, and was just happy to get the job done in straight sets.
“I’ve been really relaxed, but today I was a little tight and and I think it showed,” she said.
Williams, 33, is now five wins from her 22nd major title and the first calendar Slam in 27 years.
Rafael Nadal was also tested in his match but beat Diego Sebastian Schwartzman 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-5.
Elsewhere, defending champion Marin Cilic returned to the Arthur Ashe stadium for the first time since winning the title last year with a 6-2 6-3 7-5 win over Evgeny Donskoy.
Tenth seed Milos Raonic overcame a back problem to beat Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-1), while women’s 25th seed Eugenie Bouchard beat Polona Hercog 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-3.
*With BBC reports