French Open: Serena digs deep to beat Ahn

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Serena Williams in action during her first round match against Kristie Ahn. - Reuters
Serena Williams in action during her first round match against Kristie Ahn. - Reuters

Paris - Serena found herself trailing twice in the opening set at the Court Philippe Chatrier.

By Reuters

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Published: Mon 28 Sep 2020, 8:06 PM

Last updated: Mon 28 Sep 2020, 10:10 PM

Sixth seed Serena Williams battled sluggish conditions to defeat fellow American Kristie Ahn 7-6(2) 6-0 to open her campaign at the French Open on Monday.

Playing against an opponent she defeated at the same stage at the US Open less than a month ago, Serena found herself trailing twice in the opening set at the Court Philippe Chatrier but rallied each time to force a tiebreaker.
Serena, who has won three of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles at Roland Garros, raised her level in the tiebreaker and did not look back from there, handing the 102nd-ranked Ahn a bagel in the second set.
The 39-year-old had to dig deep to find a way to win points in the cold and heavy conditions and needed five match points to seal the victory and set up a second round meeting against Tsvetana Pironkova, who earlier beat Andrea Petkovic 6-3 6-3.


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