Paris • Eventually, this looked a little bit like one of those Serena Williams comebacks of old, filled with top-notch strokes and full-throated screams of “Come on!”
For the first half-hour in the French Open’s second round Wednesday, the 23-time Grand Slam champion generally played the way you would expect from someone competing at her first Grand Slam tournament in 16 months — and first since she gave birth to a daughter last September.
And then, suddenly, Williams was back. Animated. Determined. Dominant, even. Erasing a deficit of a set and a break, Williams recalibrated her shots and beat 17th-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match that ended shortly before dusk.