By Erik Gudris | @ATNTennis | Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Serena Williams raised her game at the right time to reach the Roland Garros third round—and set up a blockbuster clash vs. Danielle Collins.
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
As she has done so many times before, Serena Williams raised her game against a challenging opponent to reach the third round of Roland-Garros.
What looked like a potential easy straight sets result turned into a three set battle as the No. 7 seed Williams outlasted Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 in just over two hours.
Buzarnescu, a former Top 20 player, now ranked outside the Top 100, showed tremendous fight against the three-time champion in their first career meeting. Through most of the match, Buzarnescu showed off the anticipation and solid shotmaking that took her to the fourth round of Paris back in 2018.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but very glad to be through that,” Williams said after the match that featured several entertaining points late in the match.
Thanks to strong serving, Williams looked poised to make it a straight sets win after she took the first set 6-3.
Yet Buzarnescu showed tremendous fight as the match wore on. That included when the Romanian saved multiple break points against her serve to keep level with Williams.
Williams’ energy level appeared to dip midway through the second set and Buzarnescu took advantage. Buzarnescu secured the first service break for 4-2 when Williams sent a backhand into the net.
The seventh-seeded Williams would soon break back and level for 4-all. At 5-all, Williams again held break points, but Buzarnescu would deny her again, including with a solid wide serve that led to a potent forehand winner.
Buzarnescu denied Williams the chance to enter a tiebreak when the Romanian broke again to seize the set 7-5 and force a decider.
"It was really, for me, it was like a dream for a long time to play against her, because since I was young I was following her and her sister," Buzarnescu said. "Was always like, let's say, like a goal to play against such a legend.
"Before my match I really, like, put this apart and said, It's a match, so I have to play against a player as any other player and I have to focus on my game and just try my best and see the result at the end.
"I just think that I had a good match today. It's always tough to play against a player as her with such a tough serve and very powerful shots."
Williams, helped by a Buzarnescu double fault, broke her opponent to start the final set. A few games later, both women played an incredible point that each drew smiles of appreciation from both women for their effort.
The 39-year-old American broke serve again for 3-0 and finally appeared in command of the match. Both would again play another stellar point; this one won by Buzarnescu who never quit fighting.
Williams, however, was ready for the two-hour battle to be over. She soon jumped out to a 5-1 lead and would break Buzarnescu a final time to secure the 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 victory.
Williams now finds herself in the third round where she will face fellow American Danielle Collins.
Earlier in the day, Collins defeated Anhelina Kalinina 6-0, 6-2.
"She's been playing well. I played her in Australia actually," Williams said of Collins. "She plays well, especially when it's time to play, which is I guess all the time. She's also a really awesome person off the court.
"I love seeing her in the locker room. Ideally it would be great if we didn't have to play each other, because I always want her to do super well, so... It's fine, though."