TORONTO (AP) Top-ranked Serena Williams rebounded to beat Italy's Flavia Pennetta 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 on Tuesday in the second round of the WTA Tour's Rogers Cup.
''I was really frustrated with how I was playing,'' Williams said. ''And then I got really angry. ... So I said, `Serena, you're going to have to be positive and be good to yourself out here.'''
The 21-time Grand Slam winner won a day after sister Venus Williams was eliminated in straight sets by Germany's Sabine Lisicki.
The 33-year-old Williams blamed unforced errors for her early struggles.
''It was a good opportunity for me because I haven't played a match on hard courts since April-ish, early, early April, after Miami,'' Williams said. ''It was a long time ago. So I think it was really good for me to have that match play.''
Williams won the first of her three Toronto titles in 2001.
''Like a nice vintage wine, Williams said. ''A good vintage red wine, I'd say, getting better with age, I hope.''
Slumping Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard dropped out, falling 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 to Switzerland's Belinda Bencic in a first-round match. Bouchard has also lost 13 of her past 15 matches.
''It's easy to let yourself get negative when you lose a couple of matches in a row or you know your body's not feeling great,'' Bouchard said. ''It's definitely been a tough road. And I feel like I'm at least not going downwards anymore. I'm trying to go on the right path.
''I feel like I can be close to performing well on the court, and it's just been a long, patient kind of battle, and I feel like I'm close to turning it around.''
On other first-round matches, France's Alize Cornet upset ninth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-4; qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia beat 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2; No. 11 Ekaterina Makarova of Russia topped American qualifier Anna Tatishvili 6-3, 6-3; and American Alison Riske defeated 12th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3).
Belarus' Victoria Azarenka beat Ukraine's Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-4, and Germany's Angelique Kerber beat Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi 6-0, 6-1.