23-time Grand Slam Champion Serena Williams fought back from a set and a break down to beat 17th seeded Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the French Open in Paris on Thursday.
Barty was half threatened by Serena in the first game of the match, but the Australian came out of that tricky situation with the help of a couple of big serves. Thereafter, Barty barely put a foot wrong as she drew first blood, breaking the Serena serve in the sixth game on her way to taking a 4-2 lead. Barty wasn’t daunted by Serena’s aura and managed to find loopholes in the former World No.1’s game.
Barty consolidated the break in the next game as Williams wasn’t looking as sharp as she was in her opening round encounter. Barty eventually took the first set in just 29 winners as Serena paid the price for her continuous erratic hitting.
Serena then completely unraveled in the first game of the second set as her radar for winners continued to misfire. The former three-time champion’s movement was poor and she was either dumping her ground-strokes into the net or hitting them wide.
But then Serena is a winner of 23 Grand Slam titles for a reason. She dug deep and made a stunning turnaround to break right back and put the set back on an even keel at 1 game apiece. Minutes later, Serena changed the complexion of the match entirely as she broke yet again to gain the upper hand with a 3-1 lead.
She then extended her lead to 4-1 in the next game. In the end, it was a trademark finish to set No. 2 from Williams as the former champion forced a decider with the help of an ace down the middle of the court.
Serena took firm control of the match when she managed to secure an early break of serve in the third set. Barty mixed up her tactics to keep Serena’s power at bay, but then a tight error from the left-hander gifted the crucial break to Williams. Serena backed up the break with more brutal hitting to extend her lead to 3-1.
In the following games, Barty came under huge pressure from Serena as the American sensed the double break. But, Barty hung on as she came up with some extraordinary defensive shots. However, Williams maintained her one break advantage by comfortably holding on to her serve in the next few games.
Serena continued to do most of the damage as she successfully denied her adversary any opportunity of a break back with the help of her big serves. With both players producing some excellent tennis, it was Serena, who ultimately came out on top in an exhilarating battle, lasting an hour and 46 minutes.
