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Venus fights to reach third round
Venus Williams advanced to the third round of the French Open on Wednesday but needed a three-set battle with Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga.
American Venus Williams advanced to the third round of the French Open on Wednesday but needed a three-set battle with Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga.
Williams, the 2002 runner-up and seeded 11 here, achieved her sixth win over the Colombian in as many meetings with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory which took 1hr 45min on the Philippe Chatrier centre court.
"It was a challenging match. She's a player with variety. Sometimes she's playing harder and hitting with spin. But that's good for me," said Williams.
"I feel really good in the long rallies, feel like my returns are good. In general feel good on the clay."
The four-time Grand Slam winner was pushed hard despite winning the first set with three breaks.
Zuluaga, ranked 40, hit back in the second, breaking crucially in the eighth game before serving out for the set.
But the American staved off two break points on her serve in the opening game of the third set, breaking to a 4-0 love.
Zuluaga won the next three games for 3-4, but Williams held firm for the next two games.
"I think there was just a few moments when I was rushing too much and there were times when she was playing some great tennis," said the American, who next meets 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgaria, who shocked Japan's Shinobu Asagoe, the 19th seed, 7-5, 6-2.
The 24-year-old - winner of back-to-back US Open and Wimbledon titles in 2000 and 2001 - is yet to win the French Open title, with her best previous result in eight outings being runner-up in 2002 to younger sister Serena, who is not competing here this week because of injury.
