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Serena Psyched for Sydney Strike, Saves Match Points in Opener
Posted on January 11, 2009
World No. 2 Serena Williams opened play Sunday at the Medibank International in Sydney, and was forced to save four match points before eventually subduing unseeded Aussie Sam Stosur in three sets.
The American, who unsuccessfully served for the second set before the match went into a third, blamed a missed "let" call by the chair umpire for disrupting her concentration during the encounter.
"I probably shouldn't have allowed it to disrupt my game but it was a little frustrating," she told the media. "I felt like I wouldn't have been out there that much longer and I was that close to the finish line. Maybe if I had finished sooner I wouldn't have had to deal with that."
The younger Williams sister looked rusty in her 2009 debut after pulling from the Hopman Cup citing a hamstring injury, but was aided by Stosur, who shifted gears and hit the "choke" button upon facing match points against the world No. 2.
"Obviously I was nervous," she Stosur, who twice double faulted on match points. "I'm going up there trying to serve and I felt I was shaking and all sorts of things are going through your mind."
Six Top 10 players make for a strong Sydney field this week, with additional seeds Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Nadia Petrova and Caroline Wozniacki.
Other tough openers include (5) Kuznetsova vs. China's touted Shuai Peng, and (7) Petrova vs. France's Alize Cornet, with the winner of that to likely face Russian Maria Kirilenko.
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