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Serena Williams 'overwhelmed' by crowd on winning return to Indian Wells
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Serena Williams made a winning return to Indian Wells after a 14-year boycott due to the racist abuse she suffered in the 2001 final.
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On a sultry evening in front of a sell-out crowd, the American world No.1 got her bid for a third BNP Paribas Open title off to a victorious, though somewhat error-prone, start.
She overcame a nervous opening to battle past Romania’s Monica Niculescu 7-5, 7-5 in the second round.
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Williams said she was overwhelmed by the reaction to coming back to the venue and that Niculescu’s style had taken some getting used to.
“I have never played anyone like her, and I was struggling to find my rhythm,” she said after being repeatedly thwarted by an unorthodox opponent who used a heavily sliced forehand. “It was a really tough match.”
Williams had skipped the showpiece event after winning her second title here in 2001, beating Kim Clijsters in a final marred by some spectators who heckled the American and her family.
The heckling was in apparent response to Serena’s sister Venus having withdrawn from their semi-final that year just minutes before the match.
“It feels overwhelming, walking out and having everyone here cheering me,” she said. “It’s been really worth it, coming back here.”
Williams, watched by her mother Oracene and sister Isha, was broken in the opening game and trailed 0-2 before gradually finding her range.
She won the next three games but was broken again in the seventh, then trailed 3-5 before clawing her way back with a mixture of power serving and blistering ground strokes, helped by several unforced errors by the Romanian.
Spurred on by shouts of “Come on Serena” and “Go Serena” from the crowd, the American won four games in a row to take a topsy-turvy opening set in an hour.
After trading early service breaks in the second, Williams sealed victory on her fourth match point when her opponent netted a backhand, ending an encounter that lasted just over two hours.
Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, the seventh seed and a losing finalist at Indian Wells last year, had a much easier time of it, storming into the third round with a 6-3, 6-1 demolition of American Alison Riske.
