Serena Williams uses perfect tiebreaker to avoid first-round loss in New York

Her yells of “Come on!” filling a stadium devoid of spectators, Serena Williams was pushed to the brink of a stunning loss in her longest match since 2012 before pulling away with a perfect tiebreaker and edging Arantxa Rus 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (0) Monday at the Western & Southern Open.

Rus is a Dutch qualifier ranked No. 72 whose flat, left-handed strokes from the baseline gave Williams some trouble. Williams dropped four games in a row in the second set, then did so again in the third, when she fell behind 6-5.

Rus served for the match there and, at deuce in that game, was two points from victory.

She wouldn't win another point. A double-fault gave Williams a break chance, and an errant groundstroke sent the match to the concluding tiebreaker.

Showing the strokes and grit that carried her to 23 Grand Slam titles — against an opponent who has never won so much as one tour-level singles title of any sort — Williams ran away with it, ending the 2-hour, 48-minute match with a forehand, celebrating most points with a yell and a clenched left fist.

Williams hadn't spent that much time on a court since the 2012 French Open, when she lost in the first round to Virginie Razzano in 3 hours, 3 minutes. That was Williams' only career first-round exit at a Grand Slam tournament — and so perhaps she'd rather forget it.

“I'm trying to think of the last time I played a three-hour match," Williams said in a postmatch TV interview.

"That was tough. It was a real physical match out there,” she said about facing Rus. “She just kept fighting.”

The 38-year-old American is seeded third at the Western & Southern Open, which normally is held in Ohio but was moved to the site of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

After losses Sunday by No. 1 seed Karolina Pliskova and No. 2 Sofia Kenin, it appeared Williams might join them on the way out.

But thanks in part to 14 aces — one at 121 mph — Williams moved into a third-round match against No. 13 Maria Sakkari, a 6-4, 7-6 (9) winner against Yulia Putintseva on Monday after beating 16-year-old American Coco Gauff in the first round.

In other women's action, No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova joined the list of early exits by top players with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 loss to 48th-ranked Marie Bouzkova while No. 8 Johanna Konta defeated Kirsten Flipkens 6-2, 6-0, No. 14 Elise Mertens got past Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3 and qualifier Jessica Pegula beat 18-year-old Amanda Anisimova 7-5, 6-2.