Tennis: Serena Williams Through To Fourth Round
January 24th 2009 16:01
Serena Williams made a less than convincing transition into the fourth round on Saturday when she defeated China's Peng Shuai 6-1 6-4, chasing her fourth championship. Despite the scoreline, the No 2 seed struggled in the second set after her serve was broken early and Peng sprung to a 3-1 lead.
She battled back to level at 3-3 then ran up three match points in the deciding game, sealing the win with an easy smash.
Williams said she needed to improve heading into the second week, for herself and the family.
"It obviously increases my motivation and my desire to win, hopefully to do better," Williams said.
"It was definitely a lot better than my second round but I'm still trying to work on some things and hoping they'll come together.
"I started making more errors and then I lost my serve a couple of times. Then I think I put too much pressure on myself. The, next thing I know, I was down," she said.
Despite having to fight back from behind, Williams said she was never uncomfortable while trailing and turned her position into a positive one.
"I seem to play well when I get down for whatever reason," she said.
"So once I got down I was a little frustrated. I was like, you know Serena, sometimes you just play better when you're down - I started playing better."
Williams said she was feeling "a little rusty" this week and is hoping for a boost in her next match, against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who beat the 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo 6-4 6-2.
If she makes it past the teenager, she could well face Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova over whom she has a dominant 4-1 win-loss record.
Kuznetsova, the No 8 seed, will first need to subdue China's Zheng Jie to reach the quarter-finals.
Zheng cruised through to the fourth round on Saturday with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko while Zuznetsova beat Kateryna's older sister and No. 31 seed Alona.
An all-Spanish fourth-round clash will take place when No 21 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues faces Suarez Navarro.
Agence France-Presse
She battled back to level at 3-3 then ran up three match points in the deciding game, sealing the win with an easy smash.
Williams said she needed to improve heading into the second week, for herself and the family.
"It obviously increases my motivation and my desire to win, hopefully to do better," Williams said.
Serena Williams
"It was definitely a lot better than my second round but I'm still trying to work on some things and hoping they'll come together.
"I started making more errors and then I lost my serve a couple of times. Then I think I put too much pressure on myself. The, next thing I know, I was down," she said.
Despite having to fight back from behind, Williams said she was never uncomfortable while trailing and turned her position into a positive one.
"I seem to play well when I get down for whatever reason," she said.
"So once I got down I was a little frustrated. I was like, you know Serena, sometimes you just play better when you're down - I started playing better."
Williams said she was feeling "a little rusty" this week and is hoping for a boost in her next match, against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who beat the 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo 6-4 6-2.
If she makes it past the teenager, she could well face Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova over whom she has a dominant 4-1 win-loss record.
Kuznetsova, the No 8 seed, will first need to subdue China's Zheng Jie to reach the quarter-finals.
Zheng cruised through to the fourth round on Saturday with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko while Zuznetsova beat Kateryna's older sister and No. 31 seed Alona.
An all-Spanish fourth-round clash will take place when No 21 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues faces Suarez Navarro.
Agence France-Presse
| 24 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Go to Craig Hill's home page by clicking here
