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Serena, Nadal forced to dig deep

Tennis : World No 1 American downs Bertens; Britain's Konta packs off Muguruza
Last Updated 03 September 2015, 19:17 IST

 World number one Serena Williams shook off a woeful start to advance her quest for tennis history while Rafael Nadal joined her in the third round of the US Open.

Williams, trying to complete the first calendar Grand Slam singles sweep since Steffi Graf in 1988, defeated 110th-ranked Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens 7-6 (5), 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium despite 34 unforced errors and 10 double faults.

“I just kept fighting for each point, not for a lot but just one at a time,” Williams said on Wednesday.

“I had been pretty relaxed. Today I was a little tight. I think it showed. Hopefully I can get back to where I was before.”

The 33-year-old American, trying to match Graf’s Open Era record of 22 career Slam singles titles and win an Open Era-record seventh US Open crown, improved to 50-2 on the year and sustained her march towards history.

Spanish eighth seed Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, ousted Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 7-6 (5), 6-3, 7-5, while top-ranked Novak Djokovic, on a last-eight collision course with Nadal, played later against Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer.

Three-time defending champion Williams, the oldest women’s Slam winner, completed her second “Serena Slam” of four major wins in a row by winning the Wimbledon crown in July.

Williams broke back to level at 5-5 in the first set but double faulted four times in the 11th game before holding, then fell behind 4-0 in the tie-break before rallying largely on Bertens’ unforced errors.

“It definitely doesn’t worry me, being down a lot,” Williams said. “I know I can make a comeback, make a run for it.”

But her form was so shocking that Williams ran to the practice courts to work on serves after the match.

Next up for Williams will be fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who beat compatriot CoCo Vandeweghe 6-2, 6-1.

“I’ll have to play a little better if I want to win,” Williams said.

Nadal sweats it out

Nadal was down 5-4 in the first set tie-breaker before battling back against Schwartzman.

“Happy to be through,” Nadal said. “Was a tough battle. I feel lucky to be through.... To take that first set was very important to me.”

Nadal, the 2010 and 2013 US Open champion, improved to 22-1 in his past 23 US Open matches after missing 2012 and 2014 due to injury and finishing as the 2011 runner-up.
Defending champion Marin Cilic and seventh seed David Ferrer moved nearer a round of 16 meeting.

Croatian ninth seed Cilic fired 19 aces in defeating 139th-ranked Russian qualifier Evgeny Donskoy 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.

Stosur lashes out

On Thursday, Samantha Stosur, the last woman to beat Serena Williams at the US Open four years ago, and two-time runner-up Victoria Azarenka made the third round.
Australian 22nd seed Stosur breezed past Russia's Evgeniya Rodina — one of two mothers to have reached the second round — 6-1, 6-1.

Stosur, 31, fired eight aces with no double faults and hit 29 winners in her quick fire win, which gave her a third-round encounter against Italian 16th seed Sara Errani.
Despite the victory, Stosur hit out at organisers, who she claims have blundered over transport for players as well as practice court arrangements.

Stosur said she was forced to switch courts on Wednesday when Serena Williams needed a place to practice.

Azarenka, seeded at 20, made the finals in 2012 and 2013, losing to Williams in three sets on both occasions.

The Belarusian, playing in just her 13th tournament of an injury-hit season, saw off 2009 semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium, 7-5, 6-4.

Errani made the next stage by seeing off Latvian qualifier Jelena Ostapenko 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 with German 18th seed Andrea Petkovic defeating Russia's Elena Vesnina 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Second-seeded Simona Halep faced little difficulty in seeing off Ukraine qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 6-3, 6-4.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Johanna Konta continued her sublime form to oust the Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-2.


US Open second round results

Men (prefix denotes seedings): Thomaz Bellucci (Bra) bt Yoshihito Nishioka (Jap) 6-0, 6-3, 6-4, 1-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Andreas Haider-Maurer (Aut) 6-4, 6-1, 6-2; 25-Andreas Seppi (Ita) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (Rus) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1; 14-David Goffin (Bel) bt Ricardas Berankis (Ltu) 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1; 8-Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt Diego Schwartzman (Arg) 7-6, (7/5), 6-3, 7-5; Benoît Paire (Fra) bt Marsel Ilhan (Tur) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; 26-Tommy Robredo (Esp) bt Samuel Groth (Aus) 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4; 19-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt Marcel Granollers (Esp) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3; Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) bt Illya Marchenko (Ukr) 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 4-6, 6-4; 9-Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Evgeny Donskoy (Rus) 6-2, 6-3, 7-5; Mikhail Kukushkin (Kaz) bt 17-Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 2-6, 4-6, 6-4; 27-Jeremy Chardy (Fra) bt Martin Klizan (Svk) 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1); 7-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Filip Krajinovic (Srb) 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4).

Women: 2-Simona Halep (Rom)bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-3, 6-4, Johanna Konta (Gbr) bt Garbine Muguruza (Ven) 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-2, 16-Sara Errani (Ita) bt Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) 0-6, 6-4, 6-3, 20-Victoria Azarenka (Bel) bt Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) 7-5, 6-4, Varvara Lepchenko (US) bt Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr) 7-6(7), 6-2, 18-Andrea Petkovic (Ger) bt Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-3, 7-6(4), 22-Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Evgeniya Rodina (Rus) 6-1, 6-1,1-Serena Williams (US) bt Kiki Bertens (Ned) 7-6 (7/5), 6-3; 12-Belinda Bencic (Sui) bt Misaki Doi (Jpn) 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3; 23-Venus Williams (US) bt Irina Falconi (US) 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2; Anett Kontaveit (Est) bt 31-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 7-5, 6-4; Madison Brengle (US) bt Anna Tatishvili (US) 6-3, 6-2; Darya Kasatkina (Rus) bt Ana Konjuh (Cro) 6-4, 6-4; Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) bt Bojana Jovanovski (Srb) 7-5, 6-1; 17-Elina Svitolina (UKR) bt Kaia Kanepi (Est) 6-3, 6-4; 13-Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) bt Lauren Davis (US) 6-1, 6-2; Roberta Vinci (Ita) bt Denisa Allertová (Cze) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1; Mariana Duque (Col) bt Océane Dodin (Fra) 6-1, 5-7, 6-2; 25-Eugénie Bouchard (Can) bt Polona Hercog (Slo) 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-3; Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Jessica Pegula (US) 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.

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(Published 03 September 2015, 19:16 IST)

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