 MASON, OHIO—"I didn’t lose my serve [against Roger Federer] until 4-all in the third here two years ago in the final two years ago. … I haven’t played someone of his caliber in a while …”
—Mardy Fish
And it came to pass: Fish fought gamely against a razor-sharp Federer but, serve aside, wielded too few weapons to whelm the world No. 1. The 20th-ranked American, the nation’s top ATP export in the last year until a heart malady stalled his summer campaign, succumbed 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Federer bolted out to a 2-0 lead, and raced through his service games in the first set, polishing off a pair of them in about a minute each. His timing was exquisite, and the conditions—cool, just a bit windy—perfect for his artistic game. He had 5-3 in half an hour, 6-3 soon after. Fish upped his game in the second, serving big at 129 to 130 miles per hour and going eye to eye with the greatest player ever. Still, Federer flicked a forehand depth-charge at 6-3, 4-all, that Fish simply called "too good," gazing at him in respect.
Even so, Fish is not the Fed disciple that his compatriots Andy Roddick and James Blake have sometimes sounded like in recent years. He’s rather a realist who can call a spade a spade. Or an artist an artist. Two points after commentating his own match, Fish did it again: “Too good, Roger.” That made it 6-3, 5-4.
The Swiss served at 73 percent in the opening set, and his story repeated itself in the second: 73 percent again. He finished with five aces and no double faults, never facing a break point. To his credit, Fish slashed his way to pristine serving as well, with 10 aces and a lone double fault. But what comes after the serve tripped Fish up a few times: He has the heat-seeking backhand, to be sure, but was caught in tennis purgatory, in no Fish’s land, a few times. That’s the space between the service and base lines, and Federer pegged Fish on the shoe with one serve return before the American managed to hold for 5-all in the second and then force a tiebreak.
Fed threaded the net with slice backhands repeatedly, and Fish sometimes attempted to charge the net, but those approach shots almost always found the net or fell long. Perhaps Fish needs to work on his transition game if he’s going to try avoiding all-out baseline pounding with this foe.
A 5-3 advantage for Federer in the tie break became 6-3 when Fish ripped a backhand down the line that would have been a winner had it not smacked the net cord and sat up for an understated smash reply. After shanking a backhand, Federer closed it out by once more catching Fish where he didn’t belong, neither planted in the backcourt nor making the net a wall. Next up for Federer: His countryman Stanislas Wawrinka, who overcame Milos Raonic in three sets but, Swiss through and through, figures to remain a neutral opponent in this impending semifinal match.
–Jonathan Scott
 Serena Williams’ 19-match winning streak, which saw her take the Wimbledon and Stanford titles then Olympics gold, came to an end today in the Cincinnati quarterfinals as she lost to Angelique Kerber, surely the WTA’s most improved player over the last 12 months, 6-4, 6-4.
Kerber and Williams have played just once before, but it was so long ago — the 2007 U.S. Open — and so much has happened for both in the intervening time that it was like a first meeting. Williams has looked tired and rattled in her previous two matches, opening her match today by being broken to love. The difference was that Kerber, whose shoulder was heavily strapped, came into the match having won 51 matches this year on the WTA tour and was poised, confident and classy enough to take advantage.
Williams had chances to get back on serve with Kerber serving at 2-1 after unbelievable retrieving and aggressive returning gave her three break points. Kerber saved the first with an ace, the second with a fine backhand, but on the third Williams saw a second serve, stepped into the ball to hammer a backhand winner, and put it into the net. Kerber held and although Williams was largely untouchable on serve for the rest of the set despite serving at 48 percent for the match, she would not get so near the German’s again.
Kerber, who reads the game beautifully, combines powerful ball-striking with the kind of defensive solidity more usually associated with counter punchers and Williams, often forced to scramble and retrieve, was too erratic in attack today. With Kerber serving for the set at 5-4, Williams had a short ball and an open court for 15-30; instead she went back at Kerber, who redirected the ball to force the error. She had a break point and put a forehand wide, then played a poor drop shot which Kerber chased down easily for the set.
We haven’t seen the anguished Serena Williams for a while, the one who looks on the verge of tears and spreads her hands in seeming helplessness after errors, but she was much in evidence today as Kerber continued to play solid attacking tennis. Williams tossed her racquet after being broken to love at 1-1 in the second set with a truly poor game, then picked it up and smashed it; as Kerber consolidated, Williams put another short backhand second-serve return into the net, then knelt and bowed her head, in prayer or perhaps in horror. It got worse; with Kerber serving at 4-3, Williams had 15-30, then put an overhead and a drive volley into the net on consecutive points that she should have won.
Williams just couldn’t quite get it going and Kerber wasn’t giving her anything; even when the German served for the match, she snuffed out 15-30 with a beautiful serve-and-backhand combination and didn’t let a double fault on her first match point throw her, nor an unlucky net cord on her second. She struck an ace on her third for her ninth semifinal appearance of 2012 and sent Williams home for some much-needed rest before New York.
—Hannah Wilks
 MASON, OHIO—On Thursday, Venus Williams reminded the press that beating Samantha Stosur in Rome this past spring secured her Olympic berth in London. Indeed, Stosur seems to draw out Venus’s strengths quite often—especially her cross-court backhand—while not truly hurting the American with one of her main weapons, the kick serve. These things held today in a topsy-turvy three-set quarterfinal that saw flurries of forehand winners and double faults from both, with the two Slam champs never playing their best in unison. When it was over: Venus prevailed by the score of 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4.
Each entered to exuberant cheers, with many in the crowd gasping at the announcement of Venus’s 43 career titles, tied with sister Serena, for the most among active pros. Venus backed up her credentials by opening with two straight aces before breaking her Aussie foe. Stosur nearly broke back by way of two down-the-line forehand winners in the third game but played the big points poorly. Venus struck authoritative forehands throughout the first set.
Venus dealt with serve-toss troubles at times, which showed by her nine double faults. Stosur got back on serve at 3-2 in the first behind her improved play, but Venus defended well to break for 4-2 with solid backhands Stosur couldn’t handle. The 2011 U.S. Open winner, who had been hitting her two-hander to that point, then reverted to one-handed backhand slices that Venus tracked down and beat back to Stosur’s weaker side, ultimately taking the set 6-2.
Stosur dictated early in the second set, going up 2-0 but then deflating with a double fault to make it 2-all. She was visibly irritated but too classy to overtly show it. Venus slapped an ace up the T on the ad side in moving ahead 3-2, also moving well in the bright 80-degree sun. Her defense to offense was sharp, but Stosur countered with a barrage of forehand winners, as the two engaged in hard-hitting rallies of 10 shots or more, some of the week’s best. Stosur fended off Venus’s attempt to serve out the match at 5-4 and then blitzed her in the tie break, taking a 5-1 lead and snagging the set by a 7-2 margin.
Knowing that Venus was serving to her backhand at will, Stosur favored that side. It proved a liability in the second and third sets, as Venus then often sent her second tries to Stosur’s far forehand corner. Aside from her scattered double faults, Venus was saved in a way by her well executed second serves despite an ace-meets-double-fault combo that had her in purgatory a couple times. In the second set, Stosur served at 78 percent to Venus’s paltry 43 percent.
In the final set, Venus continued her confident strides between points and didn’t look fatigued. Her recent slumping as body language goes was absent. She broke quickly and took a 3-1 lead, as Stosur regressed. That set featured intense, powerful, even irritated hitting, with one point, won by Stosur, that had volleys, lobs, and moon balls, all. Venus harbored a 5-2 advantage before Stosur broke and held, but the seven-time Slam winner ended the match with a sterling service winner and an untouched forehand, showing her energy level with a trio of patented leaps into the air. In a sign of how close this bout was, each player won 32 points in the third set, with Venus edging Stosur 106-103 for the match.
The elder Williams sister is Cincy’s first female semifinalist this week. She gets Agnieszka Radwanska or Li Na there. Beyond that, hardly assured, may be her sister Serena.
–Jonathan Scott
 The ball was a blur and Marin Cilic pursued it with all the determination of a man running after his runaway rental car as it rolled down the hill with his racquets trapped in the trunk. Seven games into today's Cincinnati quarterfinal, Novak Djokovic punished a pair of forehands down opposite lines sending Cilic into side-to-side sprints, lunging in vain as the ball bounced off the back wall.
That point summed up the match: a commanding Djokovic put plenty of distance between himself and the 12th-seeded Croatian and though Cilic put in the hard yards, he could never quite close the gap.
Playing with relaxed precision and covering the court comprehensively, Djokovic dismissed Cilic, 6-3, 6-2, to roll into the Cincinnati semifinals, scoring his 14th-consecutive hard-court triumph and raising his 2012 hard-court record to 28-2.
These two have a history that dates back to the junior days and little of that past is positive for Cilic. Djokovic won 14 of the prior 15 sets the pair played, dominating the head-to-head history with a 6-0 record. The first three games underscored Djokovic's overwhelming advantage in this match-up. The 6'6" Cilic is a fine mover who displayed all-court skills in winning 20 of his last 24 matches. The 2010 Australian Open semifinalist is a quality player, but Djokovic does everything a bit better.
Holding at love to open, Djokovic chipped away at a 40-0 lead in the next game, targeting Cilic's weaker forehand wing and drawing a pair of wristy forehand errors that landed long to break for 2-0. Down double-break point in the ensuing game, Djokovic produce a brilliant shot combination: Slice serve wide to open the court, the inside out forehand to stretch Cilic and a bullet of a backhand winner down the line, before burying an ace in the corner of the box to hold for 3-0.
The second-ranked Serbian saved 28 of 29 break points he faced last week in capturing his 12th career Masters title in Toronto and he's been stingy on serve this week. Djokovic fought off all four break points he faced today — the only break points he's faced in the tournament.
Credit Cilic for hanging tough against a daunting opponent — Cilic staved off three set points in holding during a demanding 11-minute game for 3-5 — but Djokovic is so proficient hitting on the run he shrunk the court and squeezed Cilic's options. Djokovic held at love to seize the first set.
Changing direction more effectively than his opponent, Djokovic broke for 2-1 when Cilic missed a forehand down the line and broke again for 5-2 as a Cilic inside-out forehand floated long. Fighting off break points in the final game, Djokovic closed with successive stinging serves.
"It's a very good match for me; I think the best performance so far in this tournament," Djokovic told ESPN2's Jimmy Arias. "I played well against a player who is in very good form, so to come through the quarterfinals quite comfortably is a very good win."
The victory sends Djokovic into a highly-anticipated semifinal showdown with Juan Martin del Potro in a battle of the current and and former U.S. Open champions. The second-ranked Serbian has won four of their six meetings, but del Potro has prevailed in their last two matches, including an emotional 7-5, 6-4, triumph in the bronze-medal match at the London Olympic Games, which was Djokovic's last loss.
—Richard Pagliaro
 MASON, OHIO—Riffing off of the token phrase, it was sage before beauty on Center Court in Cincinnati. Roger Federer’s wisdom outshone Bernard Tomic’s seemingly regressing, though crafty, quiver of tricks. One was 31, and the other 19, but they walked out sporting similar no-collar shirts (immaculate white, naturally) dark-hued shorts, and bandannas. That’s where the parallels ended: Federer broke immediately, claiming the match by a 6-2, 6-4 count.
The Wimbledon winner and Olympic finalist shot out quickly, notching a startlingly formulaic first set. Tomic’s slice backhand was hardly about to give Federer trouble—Roger wears the crown as that shot goes—and, what’s more, the Aussie’s forehand soared long consistently. Tomic was rendered, or rendered himself, a non factor in the opening stanza, registering neither a single ace nor a double fault.
On the other hand, Federer continues to be a master who operates with workmanlike precision. That’s great to see from one who could scarcely be more decorated. Even so, he served at just 50 percent in the first set, still winning eight of 11 first-serve points and the exact same on his second attempts. In short, the top-seeded Swiss was brutal as he could be. He didn’t double fault once, also not facing a single break point. Tomic did him a few favors, resorting to inconsistent baseline hitting far too often, just as he has all season, it seems. Thus, Federer role-played as art curator, and Tomic willingly served as apprentice. The Swiss master threaded and brushed drop shots that left his foe’s face looking like a headstone, stoic and grave. Meanwhile, Tomic’s own droppers frequently met the net.
The younger of this pair awoke in the second set, launching four aces in his first three service games and then seven total for the match. It wasn’t enough. Tomic impatiently opted to hit straight-up with Federer for the bulk of this bout, and that works for no one save players named Nadal and Djokovic, and, at times Berdych and Del Potro. As is, Tomic’s star has fallen, from a career-high ranking at No. 27 in June to a Top-50 cling at No. 49 now. He’s got the goods but likely needs a strategy therapist.
Next up for Federer, who has never lost to Tomic in three meetings is Mardy Fish, who trumped Radek Stepanek for the first time in his career before speaking afterward about Federer as if he’d already beaten Tomic. Fish is nothing if not prescient. And so it will be the hearty American—now the male version of Venus Williams, always asked about his health—against the high-art world No. 1.
Fish went eye to eye with Federer before blinking at 4-all in the final set of the Cincinnati 2010 final, and he says he’s match-tough again this week. It remains to be seen if he can channel that verve and shot-making from two years ago here. He knows this already: Fed will be Fed.
–Jonathan Scott
 The most explosive sight in women's tennis — Serena Williams whipping her right arm through a serve or a smash — suddenly looked like a sight gag. Standing a few feet from net, Williams wound up for an overhead she would probably make blindfolded most days, but butchered the shot so badly, the ball hit her side of the court before sputtering into the bottom of the net.
At that point, the Wimbledon champion looked like she was taping a scene for Punk'd rather than playing for a place in the Cincinnati quarterfinals. Weary from a work load of 30 matches (19 singles and 11 doubles matches) since the start of Wimbledon, Serena looked like a shadow of herself for stretches of this match. Here's the scary thing about Serena: Even when she's not nearly at her best, the gap between her and the rest of the pack is so vast right now, she can create a clean scoreline out of a mess of a match.
Relying on her resolve on a hot, breezy day in which her footwork and control were fleeting commodities, Serena won six straight games to close a 6-4, 6-3 victory over qualifier Urszula Radwanska. The straight forward scoreline is a bit misleading: a lethargic-looking Serena battled the heat, fatigue, deficits in both sets and periods of erratic play — she served just 49 percent, did not hit an ace, scattered almost twice as many unforced errors as winners (16 winners to 30 errors) and apart from sprints to run down drop shots she struggled to keep her feet moving — but still showed enough game to rack up her 19th straight win, including her 12th consecutive straight-sets victory.
"I definitely was a little tired out there today," Serena told ESPN2's Mary Joe Fernandez after the match. "I just thought if I could move my feet a little bit then it could make a big difference. I don't think I ever did it, but I tried."
If I told you Serena — the best server in women's tennis history who was broken just once in six Olympic singles wins to capture the gold medal — surrendered serve four times in two sets today, with three of those four breaks coming at love, you might wonder if she was serving left-handed. Spinning her serve in for much of the first set, a flat-footed Serena lost serve at love for the second time to trail 3-4. At that point, Williams looked vulnerable for the taking, but Radwanska just couldn't put enough balls between the lines to capitalize. She committed four consecutive errors to hand back the break. Serena ran off eight of the next 11 points to close the set with her third break.
Opening the second set with a love break, Radwanska, who has a bit more power than older sister Agnieszka but not quite the same delicate feel in the front court, built a 3-0, 30-0 lead, but could not close it. Williams drilled a forehand winner down the line and stared at the spot after breaking for 1-3. Empowered, Serena did not drop another game and will face a much tougher opponent, Angelique Kerber, who knocked Venus Williams out of the Olympics, for a semifinal spot.
"At the end of the day, I'm professional and this is my job," Serena told Fernandez afterward. "Do I want to lose? No. So better toughen up and get through it. I was definitely holding back a little bit; struggling a little bit with aches and pains like every athlete, but overall I'm definitely able to manage it. I'll be totally fine."
—Richard Pagliaro
 MASON, OHIO—On the heels of a careening three-set encounter at the Olympic Games, Petra Kvitova and Peng Shuai rebooted in today's Western & Southern Open third round. Kvitova bounded out of the gate to a 2-0 lead before Peng, the loser in London, held at love. Curiously, the 2011 Wimbledon champ didn’t let go with her patented squawk once today, but then again, neither she nor Peng lent much reason to do so.
Both players craft hybrid shots that rely on spin and power—they have no plan B—and on this day Kvitova simply did it far better in posting a 6-2, 6-2, victory.
It all trickles down from a player’s serve, and that made the difference. Twice broken in the middle set of their Olympic duel, Kvitova rained down big serves repeatedly. They weren’t necessarily aces, but the Czech won 73 percent of her second-serve points in the first set, defending well and widely outpacing Peng’s 33 percent on second-serve points in a 6-2 set over in 20 minutes.
The fourth-seeded Kvitova served like a minimalist today, not her usual cup of tea. She was an efficient businesswoman with just four aces and three double faults. That said, she’s almost visibly taken with the notion of making hard-court statements, winning the Montreal final against Li Na, now, and up until—and through—the big show in New York City. Her main foe there would seem to be Serena Williams at this point, but for now, Kvitova batted back all five break points Peng had and seized the four that she herself secured. That "one match at a time" cliché that players are so found of holds up, in reality.
No traction came on this day for the always-ankle-taped Peng. Anytime that she garnered a sliver of momentum, she’d start spraying the ball again. Kvitova still sometimes flew off the (racquet) handle, but never for longer than two points in a row, and in this sport, that’s no streak. The two traded darts with acute angles, as is their wont, before Kvitova broke the match open to a 6-2, 4-0 advantage.
The 6-2, 6-2, result seems routine by the score line, and it largely was a washout for Peng. She looked nothing like the player who had pushed Kvitova to a 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 Olympic win, nor like the player awarded the WTA's shot of the day on August 13. Peng was kind to sign autographs for fans young and old post-match, but the crux of the matter is that, both on court and off, she needn’t be so nice. Court 9 in Cincy has no Hawk-Eye technology, and twice she may have borne the brunt of bad calls, but she persevered indifferently, as she has in so many matches with foes who are either her lateral peers or a rung or two above. (See: Peng versus Flavia Pennetta at 2011 U.S. Open, when the latter was visibly ill and yet won in a dramatic 6-4, 7-6 grit-fest.)
As for Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova awaits in the quarterfinals. Mercurial as Kvitova can be, she shouldn’t look beyond that to the specter of a semifinal showdown opposite Serena.
—Jonathan Scott
 It was a grueling and sometimes ugly affair, but top seed Agnieszka Radwanska is into the quarterfinals at the Western & Southern Open, defeating Sloane Stephens 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in just under two hours today.
It was a disastrous start from Stephens, who at 19 is the youngest woman in the Top 50, and still new to the top echelons of the game — this time last year she was ranked outside the Top 100. Facing a top player for the first time is always a daunting experience: with some women, this might mean adjusting to the pace they can generate, with Radwanska, it means quickly learning that you need to hit four or five shots you might expect to be winners to take one point. Stephens double-faulted twice in her first service game to be broken, made 11 unforced errors against just 2 winners, and generally looked like she had no idea how to approach the match. As Radwanska took the first set 6-1, having won 24 points to 10, the top seed could justifiably look forward to getting out of the sun and back into the locker room in short order.
With the help of a visit from her coach between sets, however, Stephens settled and by virtue of doing the simple things well turned the one-sided contest into an entirely different match. Playing with a killer combination of aggression and accuracy, she broke Radwanska twice to lead 4-0, and we saw for the first time a major aspect of the match-up with troubling implications for the Pole: Stephens hits a heavy ball with plenty of spin, particularly off the forehand side, and it repeatedly kicked up above Radwanska’s preferred strike zone. Radwanska is not comfortable hitting a forehand when the ball bounces up above shoulder height, and she repeatedly drove the ball into the net trying to deal with it.
Radwanska is not world No. 3 (with a shot at the No. 1 ranking if she performs well here and in New Haven next week) for nothing, however. She is a problem-solver on the court and displayed that well today. Down 2-5 in the second, she began to mix up her shots a lot more, deploying backhand slices to get a low and attackable ball to her forehand and coming into net unusually frequently, even throwing in the occasional serve and volley. Stephens took the second set as Radwanska put a forehand long but the third set was a grueling war of attrition, exchanging breaks for 1-1 and 3-3 before Radwanska broke for the third time by attacking the net.
Stephens had a gold-plated opportunity to break back, but put what should have been an easy winner into the net from right on top of it, and Radwanska served the match out, finishing with a delicate backhand drop shot winner to reach her 13th quarterfinal of the year. Stephens will be disappointed that she couldn’t get the win against a Radwanska who was clearly bothered by her tennis, but winning has become a habit for Radwanska, who is into the quarterfinals for the first time in Cincinnati.
—Hannah Wilks
 Defending champion Andy Murray blew past Sam Querrey in just 75 minutes at the Western & Southern Open today, ending the American’s hopes 6-2, 6-4.
Querrey looked good in his opening service game, but spent the rest of the match being thoroughly outclassed by the world No. 4. He had spoken before the match about his intention to attack Murray’s second serve but signally failed to do so despite having plenty of opportunities: Murray was serving at 54 percent and had a few games where he barely made a single first serve, but still won 75 percent of points behind his second serve. After saving a break point at 1-1 in the first set, the American wild card took the opening point on Murray’s serve by going back behind him up the line with his backhand. Then he saw two soft second serves, putting the return into the net on the first and failing to do much with the second beyond getting it into the court. Murray held after another missed second serve return, then went on the attack as Querrey served at 2-2. Three times Querrey came into the net behind good approach shots, and three times Murray stung him with testing passing shots or low balls to the approaching American’s ankles. Flustered, Querrey got a short ball on break point, then put the forehand into the net.
Murray took the lead for 3-2, then took the double break on his second opportunity after an invigorating backhand opened up the court for a forehand winner, serving the set out to 15 in a game that included two aces. Querrey double-faulted to give up the break at the beginning of the second and looked thoroughly bewildered about what to do with the ball: Murray’s returning and variety kept him off-balance so that he couldn’t dictate from inside the baseline, and when he attempted to do just that, Murray’s defense frustrated him until he couldn’t finish off points he should have won. Querrey did pick himself up as the second set progressed, saving two break points to keep it to a single break then earning two break points with Murray serving at 4-3 after he finally landed a couple of good aggressive returns on second serve. He saw second serves on both break points, too, but failed to take advantage of either, putting soft returns in the court and undermining any chance of dictating the rally. Murray held for 3-5 and then served out the match to 15 as Querrey put another wild backhand long.
Murray should be pleased with a solid performance, and hopefully will be more pleased that the knee problem which forced him to withdraw from Toronto didn’t seem to bother him today. He will face mercurial Jeremy Chardy in the third round. Querrey, meanwhile, who has done well to get his ranking up to 29 after serious injury problems, has to deal with the fact that he faced a top player on a poor serving day and still didn’t get anywhere near taking a set.
—Hannah Wilks
 Handed a tough first-round opponent in the shape of Maria Kirilenko, Venus Williams survived a mid-match lapse in concentration in Cincinnati today, defeating the Russian 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2.
It could and perhaps should have been 6-3, 6-3. Kirilenko, like Williams, was a doubles medalist at the London 2012 Olympics. The No. 2 Russian has reinvented herself into a solid all-court player and narrowly missed out on a singles medal in London, losing to top-ranked Victoria Azarenka in the bronze-medal match. With that in mind, the first set and a half of Williams’ victory today looks even better. Kirilenko could not get near Williams’ serve in the first set and at 3-4, a double fault from Kirilenko for 15-15 opened the door for Williams and despite a sublime low pick-up volley, Williams’ greater weight of shot earned her a break point. The American wild card may be a step slower moving side-to-side than she used to be, but the way she eats up the ground moving forward is still a sight to see as she chased down a Kirilenko drop shot for a winner to break.
In the only sign of physical issues she displayed during the match, Williams grimaced in pain and took a long time shaking out her left hand and wrist, but she had no problems in serving out the first set, taking it 6-3 as Kirilenko blasted a forehand wide. Good second-serve returns from Kirilenko earned two break points for the Russian at 0-1, but Williams saved both before pressing hard on Kirilenko’s serve at 2-2. Kirilenko’s weaker forehand began to tell and she double-faulted the break away at 2-2, then broke back immediately but couldn’t consolidate and Williams produced a significant love hold for 5-3 including three aces. She could not break Kirilenko’s serve at 3-5 despite three double faults from the Russian, but surely that would not matter as all she needed to do was serve the match out.
Unfortunately, that was precisely what Williams could not do. With Kirilenko fighting hard to get the ball in the court on the return of serve, Williams gave away one break of serve, then tried again, serving at 6-5, for the same result.
Mired in a tie break that should have been avoided, she served a double fault to go down 2-4 and Kirilenko came up with well-constructed points to take the second set. Taking the bizarre decision to leave the court for a 15-minute comfort break stopped Kirilenko’s momentum cold, however, and Williams, who remained on court during Kirilenko's hiatus, regrouped well to remain on top throughout the second set, breaking early and holding on to her serve. If she had had to serve for the match for a third time, we might have seen a repeat of the second-set collapse, but despite a 40-0 lead serving at 2-5, Kirilenko dropped the ball short a few times for Williams winners, fatally misjudged what should have been a winning forehand volley and served her eleventh double fault to lose the match. It’s a strong win for Williams over a woman ranked 50 places higher than her and an excellent start to the tournament.
—Hannah Wilks
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