Serena Williams Wins in the First Round at the French Open

“I was just thinking to get that ball out of the air, because I’ve been hitting some good swing volleys in practice,” Williams said.

Williams closed out the set with the same shot. After turning the rally from defense to offense with a high lob that pushed Begu back behind the baseline, Williams smacked another forehand swing volley on her first set point to take the tiebreak 8-6, then roared with satisfaction and threw her arms in the air.

“I know what to do, I’ve been here a million times,” Williams said of escaping the first set. “I just have to do it, because I know how to get out of those positions and those tight shots.”

Williams controlled the second set with considerably less suspense, taking it in 36 minutes after breaking Begu in the opening game and adding a second break in the seventh game for good measure.

Williams will face another Romanian, the 174th-ranked Mihaela Buzarnescu, in the second round on Wednesday.

Williams extended her nearly flawless Grand Slam opening round record despite her recent form, which has been shaky and seen her win only one of her three matches in the clay court swing so far this year. Williams, who lost in the semifinal at the Australian Open in February, suffered straight set losses to the 44th-ranked Nadia Podoroska in Rome and the 68th-ranked Katerina Siniakova in Parma when she returned to the tour.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/31/sports/tennis/french-open-serena-williams.html