Serena Williams Comes Through First Challenge
05 September 2009
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Serena Williams faced her first challenge in the defence of her U.S. Open title yesterday ass he battled to see off Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
The world number two almost breezed through the first set but she faced a fight back from Sanchez in the second set that forced her dig deep.
But William’s fighting mentality proved to be too much for the Spaniard and she couldn’t force a third set as Serena eventually won 6-3 7-5 to set up a match with Daniela Hantuchova.
In the night session sister Venus similarly had to dig deep to see off her twenty year old opponent Magdalena Rybarikova.
Despite her left thigh remaining heavily strapped Venus dominated the first set as Rybnarikova showed flashes of fight but not enough to stem the experienced Williams.
However into the second set and Williams began to struggle as her game, in particular her serve, began to falter and the errors began to appear.
But the young Rynarikova held her nerve as she battled back and a third set looked to be on the cards. But Williams finally regained her compose to struggle over the winning line 6-2 7-5.
She will now face Kim Clijsters who swept into the fourth round with an impressive win over Kirsten Flipkens.
The Belgian has had two years away from the game to start a family but has lost none of her fight as she made light work of Flipkens, who had no answer for what Clijsters threw at her. She wrapped up a 6-0 6-2 in just over an hour.
But yet another seed, in the form of Victoria Azarenka, crashed out to Francesca Schiavone despite taking the first set.
But Azarenka’s game deserted her as Schiavone battled back for a 4-6 6-2 6-2 win.
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