Serena Williams battled past Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3 5-7 6-1 to set up a third round meeting with Danielle Collins.
The 23-time grand slam champion didn’t have it all her own way but she managed to edge past Buzarnescu in three sets.
In the first set, there were plenty of positive signs for Buzarnescu as she constructed some good rallies and was able to produce effective service holds.
Meanwhile Serena’s power serving helped her through the opening set although she allowed the Romanian to hit six winners past her.
On return the 23-time grand slam champion was unable to win key points as Buzarnescu saved a break point to hold for 3-3.
However Buzarnescu faltered when it really mattered hitting a few double faults as Serena’s aggressive approach reaped its rewards with a break for a 5-3 lead.
The American would close out the first set to love as winning 86% of her 1st service points in the opening set was enough for a set lead.
After an erratic finish to the opening set the Romanian made a much more positive start to the second set, opening up spaces on the court and firing high percentage winners.
A mixture of pin-point accuracy and variety had Serena smiling of bemusement as she couldn’t seem to figure a way to blast past the defences of Buzarnescu.
Despite some good variety of her own, Serena was eventually broken as a result of some high-quality returning and good tennis IQ.
In typical Serena fashion, the American rallied back with some powerful baseline play as she roared in delight.
Despite the break Serena produced some conservative points as Buzarnescu came up clutch in key points to save two break points in the eleventh game.
As Serena continued to produce unforced errors, Buzarnescu raised her confidence level as a sizzling backhand winner secured the break and the second set, 7-5.
In the final set, Serena raised her intensity and level as Buzarnescu’s consistent patience in rallies dipped.
An early double break advantage was attained by Serena as she powered her way through the Romanian’s defence.
Despite that Buzarnescu was still having fun running the American ragged while Serena still couldn’t believe what she was seeing from the Romanian though.
Eventually Serena booked her place in the third round with another break at the end of the set.
Serena will now play Danielle Collins in the last 32 on Friday.
