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Serena gets scare but moves on at U.S. Open (w/ video)

 
Serena Williams comes back from losing the first set to Bethanie Mattek-Sands to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.
Serena Williams comes back from losing the first set to Bethanie Mattek-Sands to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.
Published Sept. 5, 2015

NEW YORK — You can't count out Serena Williams, no matter how big the deficit, no matter how off-target her strokes, no matter how much the pressure might be mounting as she bids for a Grand Slam.

Eight times this season at major tournaments, Williams has dropped the opening set. Eight times she has won.

The latest comeback was in the third round of the U.S. Open on Friday night, when Williams figured out a way to deal with a tricky opponent and get her own game going before it was too late, eventually emerging to grab the last eight games for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory over American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

"I'm not trying to live on the edge," Williams said, smiling.

Perhaps. Still, no one does it better. And with so much at stake, no less.

"She's a great closer," Mattek-Sands said. "Always has been."

Williams, 33, is trying to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same season. Next up is a fourth-round match Sunday against yet another American, 19th-seeded Madison Keys.

Looking down the line, Williams' quarterfinal opponent could be older sister Venus.

There were moments Friday under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium when it appeared that Mattek-Sands, a wild-card entry ranked 101st, would not allow that to happen.

Though Mattek-Sands, 30, won doubles titles this year at the Australian Open and French Open, this was a rare moment in the spotlight for her in singles. Plagued by injuries for the past few years, she had appeared in the U.S. Open 13 other times, never making it as far as the third round until this week.

But by mixing in slices with flat strokes, heading to the net when there were openings — and even sometimes when there weren't — Mattek-Sands played a varied, attacking style that gave Williams fits at times, particularly on break points: Williams was able to convert only 3-of-16 through the first two sets before going 3-of-5 in the third.

"I said, 'You know what, Serena? Just keep going. Keep trying, keep trying, keep trying,' " Williams said.

Mattek-Sands started well, taking a 3-0 lead while grabbing 16 of the first 21 points. Williams decidedly did not, responsible for each of the match's first half-dozen unforced errors. That opening set ended with three consecutive miscues by Williams: a backhand wide, a swinging forehand volley long, a forehand return wide.

It took Williams a while to get into the second set, missing out on break chance after break chance, and showing her exasperation repeatedly. After one flubbed backhand, she wheeled and looked at coach Patrick Mouratoglou in the stands. After another, she leaned over, pushing her forehead against the handle of her racket.

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Even when Williams finally converted her sixth break point of the second set, screaming loudly to celebrate a 5-3 lead, she quickly double-faulted twice while serving for the set, helping Mattek-Sands break right back. Soon thereafter, it was 5-all, and Mattek-Sands was two games from one of the biggest surprises in tennis history.

She did not win another game.

Earlier Friday, Venus gathered herself after a midmatch dip to reel off the final five games and beat 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-4. At 35, Venus is the oldest woman in the field. At 18, Bencic was the youngest to make it to the third round.

On the men's side, No. 1 Novak Djokovic and defending champion Marin Cilic moved into the fourth round. Djokovic was broken for the first time in the tournament — twice, actually — but beat No. 25 Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-5, 7-5. Cilic put in a lot more work to edge Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-1.