Serena Rebounds From Leg Injury For Victory in Rome
Despite a thigh injury that hampered her over the past week, Serena Williams faced no issues on Wednesday morning in Rome, disposing of Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-2, 6-2 to move into the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia event.
Williams made sure she was in control of the match from the beginning, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first set. She broke Petkovic at love and never looked back, capturing the first set 6-2. Things were no different in the second set, as the younger Williams sister never faced any break points, and cruised to a 6-2 second victory to wrap up the victory.
She showed no signs of the thigh injury that had given her trouble since she withdrew from her quarterfinal matchup in Madrid last week. She lost only eight points all match and never allowed Petkovic to get any rhythm or confidence.
Williams is now one win shy of her sister, Venus, on the all-time list and moves on to face fellow American Varvara Lepchenko whom she defeated in straight sets in their only career meeting last year. Agnieszka Radwanska also moved one step closer to the finals, slipping past lucky loser Paula Ormaechea 6-3, 6-2. In the first match since she fell to Maria Sharapova in the Madrid semifinals, the Polish Radwanska had no problem against Ormaechea, holding all nine of her service games and breaking her opponent’s serve three times.
Radwanska will meet Francesca Schiavone in the third round, who beat Garbiñe Muguruza in a tough, three-set duel. Radwanska is 5-4 in her career against Schiavone, which sets up a very competitive third-round bout in Rome.
