Top seed Serena Williams rallied from one set down to beat hard-hitting teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic.
Williams looked completely out of sync for much of the match. Against a 15-year-old qualifier no less.
Williams, playing her first match since losing the Wimbledon final to big sister Venus, committed eight unforced errors in the initial 12 points. She sprayed her typically reliable ground strokes long and wide. She hit ball after ball into the bottom of the net and regularly missed first serves. Her father, Richard, briefly left his seat in a corner box after watching his daughter struggle so mightily.
PHOTO: AP
Larcher de Brito slipped and hit a backhand into the net on match point and Williams came around the net to shake hands moments later.
It was the gutsy Larcher de Brito — who grunted loudly on every shot and pumped her fist on both her own winners and Williams’ unforced errors alike — who was the aggressor until her experienced opponent, with eight Grand Slam titles, woke up in the second set.
Williams led 4-2 in the opening set before losing it and dropping six straight games to fall behind 2-0 in the second. She then changed rackets and rolled the rest of the way.
PHOTO: AP
The 26-year-old Williams is playing in her first Bank of the West event, after being scheduled to appear three other times, only to withdraw. She did play at Stanford in the 1999 Fed Cup final against Russia.
Williams is looking for her fourth tournament title of the year and the 32nd of her career. She will play in the quarter-finals against the winner of the second-round match between Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova and fifth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.
Larcher de Brito, meanwhile, had advanced to the second round by beating Argentina’s Gisela Dulko 7-5, 7-6 (1) on Tuesday. That was after she won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ai Sugiyama ousted fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the quarter-finals.
The unseeded Sugiyama, from Japan, fell behind 3-0 in the first set, then won the next nine games before Hantuchova held serve to make it 3-1 in the second set. Sugiyama needed three sets to beat wild-card entry Alexa Glatch in the first round.
Hantuchova has been dealing with a stress fracture in her right heel since May and Wimbledon was her first tournament since April.
She lost in the second round of Wimbledon to Kleybanova.
Sugiyama will face Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, a 6-2, 6-3 second-round winner over Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine, on Wednesday.
Second seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia beat Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3, 6-4. Chakvetadze lost the first game of each set and trailed 4-3 in the second, before winning the final three games.
She will play the winner of the second-round match between No. 6 Marion Bartoli of France and England’s Anne Keothavong.
■GASTEIN LADIES
AP, BAD GASTEIN, Austria
Top seed Agnes Szavay beat Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday to advance to the second round of the Gastein Ladies.
The 14th-ranked Hungarian was broken twice in the opening set, but dominated afterward.
Second seed Alize Cornet of France retired with a stomach illness in the final set of her match, losing to Rossana De Los Rios 2-6, 6-2, 3-2 in the first round.
It was Cornet’s first match since winning the Budapest Grand Prix on Sunday — her first victory on the WTA Tour.
In the second round, De Los Rios will play Patricia Mayr of Austria, who beat Martina Muller of Germany 6-3, 6-3.
Third seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark also won, beating Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan 6-1, 6-1. The 30th-ranked Wozniacki dropped just six points on her serve and converted five of nine break points.
Wozniacki next plays Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine, who defeated Tzipora Obziler of Israel 6-2, 6-1.
Fifth-seeded Timea Bacsinszky beat Liana Ungur of Romania 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The 19-year-old Swiss will next meet Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, who beat Shuai Zhang of China 6-3, 6-0.
Also, Karolina Sprem of Croatia beat eighth-seeded Vera Dushevina of Russia 6-3, 6-4; Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany defeated Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1; Tereza Hladikova of the Czech Republic rallied to beat Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5; and Yvonne Meusburger beat Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 7-5, 6-2.
■CROATIA OPEN
AP, UMAG, Croatia
Defending champion Carlos Moya needed nearly three hours to subdue Serbian Viktor Troicki on Wednesday, prevailing 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals at the ATP Croatia Open.
Moya, a five-time Umag champion and seeded third, double-faulted three times and was broken three times to lose the first set to Troicki, last year’s semi-finalist.
He recovered in the second set, fighting off three break points — two at 4-4 and one at 5-5 — to force a tie-break and even the match.
Moya jumped ahead 3-0 in the final set, but Troicki equalized at 3-3 and was within two points of victory at 5-4.
The Spaniard eventually overcame his 44 first-serve percentage to win in 2 hours, 45 minutes.
Moya — who had a bye in the first round — will play seventh seed Fabio Fognini next, who beat two-time Umag finalist Filippo Volandri 6-4, 6-4.
Top seed Fernando Verdasco also advanced to the quarter-finals, winning his Umag debut 7-6 (5), 6-1 over Mathieu Montcourt of France for his 10th victory in his last 13 matches.
In the quarter-finals, he will face German Mischa Zverev, who upset eighth-seeded Marcos Daniel of Brazil, 6-4, 6-2.
■AUSTRIAN OPEN
AP, KITZBUEHEL, Austria
Potito Starace beat Austrian wild card Daniel Koellerer 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Austrian Open.
The fourth-seeded Italian, who lost last year’s final to Juan Monaco, lost on his serve once, but saved eight break points.
Starace next plays fifth-seeded Eduardo Schwank of Argentina, who defeated German qualifier Daniel Brands 6-1, 6-4.
Schwank was never in danger of losing his serve and converted three of nine break points for a convincing victory.
Victor Hanescu of Romania continued his recent run of good results by beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-1.
Hanescu, who won his first ATP title on Sunday in Gstaad, Switzerland, conceded only seven points on serve against the Spaniard, who upset third-seeded Agustin Calleri in the opening round on Tuesday.
In the quarter-finals, Hanescu will play Brian Dabul of Argentina, who defeated Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3.
■INDIANAPOLIS
AP, INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana
Gilles Simon used a simple serve-and-volley game to beat Germany’s Benjamin Becker 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 and reach the quarter-finals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships on Wednesday.
Also advancing was German No. 5 Tommy Haas, who used an accurate service game to sweep American John Isner 6-3, 6-4.
Third seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, the defending champion, advanced to the quarter-finals when his opponent, American Wayne Odesnik, withdrew with a back injury before the night’s final match.
Earlier, Paul Capdeville of Chile won 23 of his 27 first-serve points and cruise past Australian qualifier Joseph Sirianni 6-3, 6-4.
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