Serena Williams took the scenic route past 17-year-old Caty McNally—a player that wasn’t even born with the legendary American won her first US Open title—and notched a hard-fought 5-7 6-3 6-1 victory that left her relieved, but not overly pleased. The American struggled at times, and dropped the opener behind eight winners and 15 unforced errors, but she rebounded and tossed in a total of 24 winners against 13 unforced errors the rest of the way. McNally, a gifted net presence and a feisty competitor, defeated Timea Bacsinszky for her maiden US Open main draw win on Day 1 in New York. She will come away pleased to have pushed the six-time US Open champion in just the sixth tour-level even of her career. Williams was frustrated with her start to the match, but takes comfort in a strong finish. “I had to stop making errors,” she said. “I made so many errors in the first two sets. I was just too many. You can't win tournaments making that many errors. I knew I had to play better, and I knew I could.” The American moves on to face either Karolina Muchova or Hsieh Su-Wei in the third round. ]]>
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