By Erik Gudris | Thursday, March 20, 2014

Serena Williams entered Thursday as reigning champion of the Sony Open Tennis event in Miami. But her performance was anything but regal except in the late stages of a rocky second round encounter with Yaroslava Shvedova.

Shvedova, who once hit a career high ranking of No. 25 a few years ago, had tangled with Williams before including a memorable encounter at Wimbledon in 2012. Williams barely escaped in that fourth round meeting before winning the title and shades of that match could be seen on the purple court inside the main stadium.

Williams, who hasn't played since Dubai, wasn't at her best from the outset. Missing out on multiple break point chances, she finally converted for 3-1. But Shvedova, with her all-court attacking game, didn't back down and broke back. Soon, it was Shvedova serving for the set up 5-4.

A helpful net cord though allowed Williams to break right back for 5-all. An expected tiebreak commenced soon enough and Williams, continuing to mistime her shots while not moving well at all, got behind early. Shvedova climbed to a 6-3 lead.

Holding three set points, Shvedova served to make a very unhappy looking Williams even more miserable. But that's when Shvedova proved, to her misfortune, why she's never broken through of late at a big event.

Nerves got the better of Shvedova as she hit an iffy forehand into the net followed by a tentative double fault. Before Williams, who was still down a set point could serve, a security guard escorted a rowdy Kazakhstan fan cheering for Shvedova out of the stadium that elicited loud boos from everybody else in the crowd.

Williams, remaining ice cold after the incident, proceeded to bomb down back to back aces. Shvedova would extend the tiebreak with a fine volley on the next point. But she couldn't do much when she hit a short second serve that Williams swatted away for a winner.

Williams soon closed out the ragged first set 7-6(7) with a backhand winner.

The second set didn't get any easier for Williams even after she broke Shvedova in the opening game. A determined Shvedova broke right back for 1-all and it looked like this set would be a protracted one too. Even after Williams ripped a forehand winner a few games later to break again for 3-2, the six-time champion looked almost on the verge of tears.

That would be the last moment of uncertainty for Williams. Finding the range better on her groundstrokes, Williams moved ahead 4-2. With Shvedova now not able to rely on Williams’s errors, she had to pick up her own play. That didn't happen as Williams broke at love to serve for the match.

With her 14th ace, Williams closed out the 7-6(7), 6-2 victory. Williams proved again why she is still the best at winning when not at her best. But Williams also proved she still has a lot to clean up her in her game moving forward if she wants to win her seventh Miami title.

Next up will be young French talent Caroline Garcia.

Other winners included No. 5 seed Angelique Kerber who clawed past Peng Shuai 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(5). Indian Wells winner Flavia Pennetta beat Olga Govortsova 6-3, 6-3. Next for Pennetta will be Ana Ivanovic.

The biggest upset of the day was posted by 17-year-old Donna Vekic who upset No. 28 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6(5), 7-5.