Serena recovers in time, advances
PARIS — After playing so infrequently, it’s as if Serena Williams is starting from scratch.
Sure looked that way for a bit more than a half-hour in the French Open’s second round yesterday, when she dealt with muscle soreness, a lack of verve and a bunch of mistakes. So many mistakes.
And then, suddenly, after unleashing one particularly powerful backhand return winner that she punctuated with a shout, Williams was back. She was animated. Determined. Dominant, even.
Shaking off some rust in her first Grand Slam tournament since giving birth nine months ago, Williams recalibrated her shots and erased a deficit of a set and a break to beat 17th-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match that ended shortly before dusk.
“I lost the first set, and I thought, ‘I’ve got to try harder. I’ve got to just try harder,’ ” she told the crowd afterward. “And Serena came out.”
The 36-year-old American, who became a mother on Sept. 1, grabbed four consecutive games over a span of less than 15 minutes to lead 4-1 in the second set, which soon enough would be hers. She gained control of the third almost immediately, breaking to go ahead 2-1, then holding for 3-1.
After only three winners in the first set, she had 25 the rest of the way.
When Williams served out the victory with a backhand winner down the line, she raised both arms.
“I felt like it’s been a long way and a long journey, and I’m still getting there, you know. But I have been working really hard, for a really long time,” said Williams, who is ranked 451st, 450 spots below her career high. “I just am hoping that every day I’m out there, every match I’m out there ... it will come together.”
Next for Williams is a third-round match against 11th-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany.
In other women’s play, top-ranked Simona Halep, third-seeded Garbine Muguruza and two-time champion Maria Sharapova all powered into the third round with straight-set victories.
Halep showed no signs of fatigue in beating wild-card entry Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-1, despite playing on consecutive days. Sharapova improved to 13-0 in secondround French Open matches by beating 50th-ranked Donna Vekic of Croatia 7-5, 6-4.
And Muguruza impressed with her easy movement around the court in a 6-4, 6-3 victory over French wild-card entry Fiona Ferro.
On the men’s side, Rafael Nadal completed another straight-set win to reach the third round, extending his Roland Garros record to 81-2.
Nadal is once again the big favorite on his favorite surface following a tremendous clay-court season, and the 10-time champion lived up to the status by easily dispatching Guido Pella of Argentina 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Nadal hasn’t lost a set at the French Open since 2015, when he was beaten in the quarterfinals by Novak Djokovic. In 2016, he withdrew with an injured left wrist after a pair of easy victories, then claimed every set he played last year en route to the trophy.
Next he will be up against Richard Gasquet of France, who advanced to this stage for the eighth straight year by defeating Malek Jaziri 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. He has never beaten Nadal in 15 previous meetings.
Among other seeded players advancing were No. 3 Marin Cilic, No. 6 Kevin Anderson, No. 7 Dominic Thiem and No.15 Lucas Pouille.