TIL Desk Sports/ Venus Williams played through illness to win a seesaw opening round match against German Andrea Petkovic 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday.
Williams, who received medical attention from a trainer late in the first set, saved her best tennis for the biggest moments, breaking Petkovic for a sixth time in the final game to make up for a dismal second set. Asked in an on-court interview to describe the encounter, the 38-year-old former world number one was almost at a loss for words.
American Sam Querrey bounced back from a sluggish start to claim a 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4 win over Matteo Berrettini during a windy first-round match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Thursday. The hard-hitting Californian was in a hole at 3-0, 40-0 down in the first set but rallied to break back and ultimately force a tiebreak he won to the delight of the partisan crowd.
Berrettini came out energized to win the second set but Querrey’s blistering serve, highlighted by an unreturnable second serve on match point, eventually proved too much for the Italian.
