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MIAMI – World number one Serena Williams overcame stubborn resistance from France’s Caroline Garcia to reach the fourth round of the Sony Open in Miami on Saturday.
Six-time champion Williams took two hours and 32 minutes, along with a rain interruption in the final set, to beat the world number 74, 6-4 4-6 6-4.
“I really gave myself a tremendous amount of trouble out there,” she said.
Williams spent most of her victory gesturing, scowling and shouting at herself for a string of miscues.
“It’s important to stay positive,” said Williams. “Obviously I wasn’t at my best, I had 40-something errors.
“It’s not the way to play professional tennis, maybe amateur. On the professional tour you have to do a little better than that, so hopefully I can, in the next few matches, do better.”
World number seven Maria Sharapova needed nine match points to beat Czech 26th seed Lucie Safarova 6-4 6-7 6-2.
“She was just hitting unbelievable shots on the match points,” said Sharapova after a match that lasted nearly three hours.
“I kept asking myself how many more chances I had. I’m just so happy to go through.”
In the men’s event, world number one Rafael Nadal defeated 2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt 6-1 6-3, while Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-0 3-6 6-3.
Wawrinka has lost just one of his 15 matches this year but admitted he is not completely used to the pressure that comes with being a Grand Slam champion. “I still have some ups and downs mentally,” said the Swiss. “I was negative in the second set a little bit stupidly, but then I’m really happy with the way I started the third set.”
The earlier rain shower and lengthy matches meant Nadal did not get on court until late in the evening, and the Spaniard wasted little time in seeing off Hewitt in just over an hour.
“I am here to try my best I know how dangerous Lleyton is and I admire him so much,” said Nadal, who is targeting a first Miami title. — BBC
Online Reporter