RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — One destroyed racket — and one poor set — later, Serena Williams made it safely into the third round of the Rio Olympics as she bids for a second consecutive singles gold medal.
The No. 1-seeded American struggled for quite a while Monday night, before emerging with a 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over France's Alize Cornet, despite making 36 unforced errors and getting broken four times.
Williams started well enough, taking the first three games and compiling 17 of the match's first 21 winners. But then she dropped 5 of 6 games to fall behind 5-4.