Serena Williams advances to third round of Toronto event

Toronto (Canada): World number one Serena Williams rallied to advance to the third round of the WTA Rogers Cup on Tuesday by defeating Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.

 

Serena became the only player to reach the third round at the US Open hardcourt tune-up event after rains washed out all but two matches on Monday. Her next match will be played on Thursday.

 

It was the 725th career match triumph for Williams, who withdrew from last week’s Stanford event with a right elbow injury but launched her US Open hardcourt warm-up campaign successfully. 

 

Serena, winner of the past four Grand Slam events, took 98 minutes to capture her first match since winning at Wimbledon, and as she did during much of her title run in London, she did it after dropping the first set.