Serena rallies past Venus, builds confidence for US Open

LEXINGTON — Serena Williams rallied to defeat sister Venus Williams  三- 六,  六- 三,  六- 四 on Thursday in a second-round matchup of Grand Slam champions at the WTA Top Seed Open.

Top-seeded Serena, a  二 三-time Grand Slam winner, said the victory will boost her confidence heading into the US Open as she improved to  一 九- 一 二 in the  二 二-year-old rivalry with Venus.

"I wanted to win this for my game and my confidence,"大众said Serena, whose only title as a mother came in January at Auckland.

"I honestly didn't come here to win (a title) for the first time in my career. I just came here to get some matches. I haven't had this much time off since I had the baby."

Ninth-ranked Serena is one shy of matching Margaret Court's all-time record of  二 四 Grand Slam titles and she is preparing to chase a seventh career US Open singles crown at Flushing Meadows.

Serena smacked a cross-court forehand winner to break Venus for a  二- 一 lead in the third set, then dropped the next four games, only to break again in the seventh on another forehand cross-court winner, then hold to  四- 四.

Serena zipped a backhand cross-court winner past Venus to break for a  五- 四 lead and served out the match, aided by an umpire over-rule ace to reach  三0- 三0. 

Serena followed the call with her  一 四th ace and won after two hours and  一 九 minutes when Venus sent a forehand beyond the baseline.

"The last couple games I just wanted to win because I've been losing a lot of those tight sets,"大众Serena said. "I just tried to focus on those last two games."

Serena improved to  一00- 一 一0 after losing the first set, the best of any active WTA players. In the Williams sisters rivalry, the first-set winner has taken  二 六 of  三 一 meetings.

"This was right up there,"大众Serena said. "I'd say it was one of the all-time top five super-competitive matches between the two of us."

Serena had six double faults and hit  六 七% of her first serves while winning  四 六% of second-serve points and taking  五-of- 一 五 break points in her first event since February's Fed Cup.

Venus, ranked  六 七th, had six aces with  一 一 double faults. The seven-time Grand Slam champion ousted Victoria Azarenka in the first round.

Combined age of  七 九

"She played unbelievable,"大众Serena said of Venus. "She's doing so good. I honestly don't know how I was able to pull it off at the end. She played so well."

Venus,  四0, and Serena,  三 八, had a combined age of  七 九 years and  一 九 days, the third-oldest combined age of any WTA Tour match.

The sisters concluded matters with a racquet tap at the net, a nod to the COVID- 一 九 pandemic that had shut down the season for five months until last week and forced the Lexington, Kentucky, event to be played without public spectators.

Serena advanced to a quarter-final on Friday against fellow American Shelby Rogers, who ousted Canadian teen Leylah Fernandez  六- 二,  七- 五.

Thursday's match marked the earliest Serena and Venus have met in a draw since their first tour-level meeting in the second round of the  一 九 九 八 Australian Open.

Serena has won  一0 of their past  一 二 meetings dating to Miami  二00 九. 

It was the first match between the superstar siblings since the third round of the  二0 一 八 US Open, when Serena, in her comeback season from maternity leave, won  六- 一,  六- 二.

Also into the last eight was Jil Teichmann, who eliminated Kazak fifth seed Yulia Putintseva  六- 二,  六- 二. The Swiss next plays Catherine Bellis, who beat US compatriot Jessica Pegula  六- 三,  六- 二. — AFP