15 aces, around 85% 1st serve pts won
Unlucky draw for Lucie, she played well here but No one can beat Serena When her serve's on
If Serena can keep her serve like this she won't drop a set to the title
It will be more interesting If her serve drop a little bit
Not sure if a new tactic with the coach but Williams was hitting 2nd serves with as much force as 172kmh and frequently risking so much for the second serve
And maybe it is just as well considering the 2nd delivery of Williams has been shaky the last 3 seasons with many DF at random moments
Serena. Glad that she survived the challenge of the first two rounds. Hopefully Serena will get a chance for revenge in a repeat of the SF from New York last year.
Well done Serena, and great fight from Lucie. Like Bencic she was so unlucky with the draw as both of them would have taken some of our current third rounders out.
Wow that was a tough test, scoreline doesn't tell the story.
Lucie was peaking on serve and was going toe-to-toe on the ground with Serena. She would have beaten 90% of the tour tonight.
Serena seemed quite tense and shaky for most of the match, but as always as the great competitor and champion she is she buckled down in the critical moments, serving a vital second serve ace to save a break point down 2-3 in the second, as well as digging deep to break Lucie's serve in the second. The belief she has in herself to execute in high-pressure situations is incredible. Should bode well going forward, she will be match tough.
High quality match! Lucie played pretty well herself, just came up short in the big points.
Serena did very well in these 2 tough opening matches. She knew she had to start at a pretty good level, and she did it. Hopefully this will help her for the rest of the tournament. The next matches should be easier for her.
Incredibly high quality match. Well done to both ladies, that was a pleasure to watch. Not often a 2nd round match is played at that level. What did Lucie finish for winners to unforced errors, about 27/16?
Serena in this form portrays tennis in perfection and is just a joy to watch. Will be incredibly difficult for anyone to even come close to her.
Lucie played a great match as well, but Serena was too much to handle today.
Now that Ivanovic is retired, I swear Safarova runs Serena ragged more than any other woman on tour. :crying2: No one else makes Serena guess that much on ROS.
Serena's ground game is still patchy but it's much improved since Auckland. She's looking a bit more comfortable on the run / in the corners too. Should handle her next 2 rounds easier than her first 2.
Still a few more kinks Serena needs to work on, can't say too much about the return from Serena, since Safarova on serve placed and mixed up the pace of her serve on both 1st and 2nd. Off the ground she was a lot more steady. Main concern is the 2nd serve, she won I think 18-20% of her 2nd serve, that number is usually a lot higher, so definitely something to focus on.