ROME, Italy – Serena Williams left little doubt about her clay court form after easing into the third round with a straightforward win over Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-4, 6-3 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
She hadn’t played a tennis match in a month and a half – since her round of 16 appearance in Miami and subsequent withdrawal from the Mutua Madrid Open – but the three-time Rome champion was too much for Friedsam to handle.
Things were more straightforward in Rome, the first match of Williams’ 2016 clay campaign. She broke once to snag an early lead at 2-1 in the first set, then three times in the second set to put the match away after an hour and fifteen minutes. She struck 27 winners and 18 unforced errors to Friedsam’s 16 and 21.
«I was really happy with my level,» Williams said after the match. «I think I was really consistent. I think I was mentally consistent. I started out fast. Those are some of the things I wanted to work on [and] I was really happy about that.»
In the day’s other second-round match, last year’s finalist Carla Suárez Navarro survived a tricky second set to advance past Teliana Pereira 6-1, 7-5.
Serena Williams acabo con los rumores y dudas sobre su estado con una comoda victoria en su regreso a la competencia al superar en sets corridos a Anna-Lena Friedsam con parciales de6-4 y 6-3 y asi avanzar a la tercer ronda del Internacional BNL de Italia…
y es que Serena no habia jugado un partido de tenis oficial en mas de mes y medio desde su retiro en partidos de octavos de final del abierto de Miami y su posterior retiro del abierto de Madrid..
Al final del compromiso Serena dijo sentirse feliz con su nivel, que estuvo muy consistente, mentalmente muy enfocada. con un comienzo rapido. algunas cosas en las que deboo trabajar, pero realmente sstoy feliz.