IT was arguably the strangest match of Serena Williams‘ long and illustrious career, but the multiple Grand Slam winner conceded she was just happy to get past it. The United States star and third seed in the 2020 Western & Southern Open was catapulted into outright favouritism following shock losses to Karolina Pliskova and Sofia Kenin the day before. While many expected Williams to have no issues getting past Dutch qualifier, Arantxa Rus, that was far from the case.

Williams did get the chocolates in front of an approximate crowd of zero people, but it took two hours and 48 minutes, as Rus weathered a barrage of aces from her higher ranked opponent – 14 in total – and despite eight double faults herself, did not give in. Williams was by far the stronger player on the day with 82.5 per cent of her first serve points successful, but both players had their chances throughout the 33-game epic contest as Rus broke four times to three to win the only non-tiebreak set. The final score read 7-6 3-6 7-6 in favour of Williams, who won all seven points in the third set tiebreak to advance through to the Round of 16.

“Now I feel like I have passed that test, and now I can pass the test at the Open, playing Ashe Stadium,” Williams said in her post-match press conference. “At one point I was pumping my fist and saying, ‘Come on!’ I had a crowd in my head or something! It was actually funny to me. I don’t know. For me, it was like there was a crowd there.”

Despite playing the longest match of her career since the 2012 Roland Garros loss to Virginie Razzano, Williams said she felt good in herself ahead of the US Open.

“Physically I feel like I’m incredibly fit,” she said. “I did hit a wall today in the second set. “I was so hot. “That never happens. “Tennis is mental. You know, it’s all mental.”

The third seed will now set her sights on 13th seed Greek up and comer, Maria Sakkari who put away young gun Kazakhstan talent, Yulia Putintseva 6-4 7-6. Despite the draw opening up with the losses to key seeds, a potential quarter finals clash against eighth seed Brit or resurgent Russian, Vera Zvonareva is on the cards after the pair won through with victories over respective qualifiers, Kirsten Flipkens and Laura Siegemund, dropping two games each along the way in huge thrashings.

In other results, reigning champion Madison Keys was a big casualty on day five, losing to Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who after defeating another American in young gun Coco Gauff is not likely to be endeared by the locals, who, lucky for her are not allowed in. Similarly, Czech Marie Bouzkova toppled sixth seed Petra Kvitova in three sets to send her packing, while the other top ranked players all advanced through unscathed. Among them were fourth seed Naomi Osaka and fifth seed Aryna Sabaleka who had to fight through three-set battles.

Also on the winners list on day five were seeds, Anett Kontaveit, Elise Mertens and Dayana Yastremska, while qualifiers Jessica Pegula and Christina McHale continued their run into the Round of 16. They joined Zvonareva as the three qualifiers in the third round, following upset wins over top 30 players Amanda Anisimova and Ekaterina Alexandrova.

WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN WTA TOUR RESULTS:

[3] Serena Williams (USA) defeated [Q] Arantxa Rus (NED) 7-6 3-6 7-6
[4] Naomi Osaka (JPN) defeated Karoline Muchova (CZE) 6-7 6-4 6-2
[5] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) defeated [Q] CiCi Bellis (USA) 6-7 6-4 7-5
Marie Bouzkova (CZE) defeated [6] Petra Kvitova (CZE) 2-6 7-5 6-2
Ons Jabeur (TUN) defeated [7] Madison Keys (USA) 6-4 6-1
[8] Johanna Konta (GBR) defeated [Q] Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-2 6-0
[12] Anett Kontaveit (EST) defeated [Q] Jil Teichmann (SUI) 6-3 6-4
[13] Maria Sakkari (GRE) defeated Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-4 7-6
[14] Elise Mertens (BEL) defeated Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 6-1 6-7 6-3
[16] Dayana Yastremska (UKR) defeated Bernarda Pera (USA) 7-6 4-6 6-3
[WC] Victoria Azarenka (BLR) defeated Caroline Garcia (FRA) 6-2 7-6
[Q] Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated Amanda Anisimova (USA) 7-5 6-2
[Q] Christina McHale (USA) defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) 6-1 7-6
[Q] Vera Zvonareva (RUS) defeated [Q] Laura Siegemund (GER) 6-1 6-1

Picture: Getty Images