Serena wills herself into third round with hard-fought come-from-behind victory

SW34 is TENNIS.com's Wimbledon blog that will provide on-site news, insight and commentary about a pair of legendary 34-year-olds, Roger Federer and Serena Williams, as they look to once again triumph at the All England Club.

LONDON—On Friday at Wimbledon, Serena Williams faced a well-known opponent in fellow American and Fed Cup teammate Christina McHale. Just like she has twice already this year, Williams prevailed in a lengthy battle, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4.

“It was a really good match,” said Williams, a champion of few words. “She played great; she always plays great against me. So it was what it was.”

Earlier this year, Williams prevailed over McHale on a hard court in Miami, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 and on clay in Rome, 7-6 (7), 6-1.

Something about McHale’s persistence gets to Williams, and that was only made tougher on grass, with the world No. 65 getting in more practice on the slick surface in than the 21-time Grand Slam singles champion. After two matches in Nottingham, McHale won four times in Birmingham (three in qualifying) before falling to CoCo Vandeweghe.

The 24-year-old New Jersey native, once ranked as high as No. 24 in 2012, knew she had the arsenal to challenge the world No. 1, given their previous tilts this year. She got on the board quickly by breaking Williams in the first game. With a fairly empty Centre Court to start, McHale got the consolidating hold after a lengthy game, with the help of her first ace. She even got a look at break point in the third game.

"She played better than I've ever seen her play before.  She was just hitting line shots from the first point to the last," Williams said. "Yeah, it was good for me to get through that."

McHale is scrappy, getting plenty of shots back, and on Friday, she was pulling out her big shots when she needed them. Passing shots, or even delicate drop shots, flowed from her frame.

Williams’ serve, famous for bailing her out, got her out of trouble to hold for 2-3. Not backing down, McHale held right back for 4-2. But it was only a matter of time before Williams was able to exploit McHale’s weaker serves. The world No. 1 did so to break back for 4-all., and then came the rain, for the umpteenth time on Friday, resulting in a 20-minute hiatus for the roof to close.

Back on court, Williams held for 5-4, and earned a set point. The set looked to be Williams’ but for a successful McHale challenge which offered her a reprieve; she went on to save another set point. After all that, McHale held, snapping a three-game losing streak, and the pair held to a tiebreaker.

By now the crowd was filling in quickly, sensing the onset of something compelling.

They got what they came for. Like most other players, McHale plays more passively that Williams, taking defensive roles in the back half of the breaker. But her scrambling was effective enough to earn a set point at 6-5. In this case, the strategy worked as Williams netted a simple short forehand to give McHale the set, 7-6 (7).

Williams promptly walked to her seat and smashed a racquet, eliciting a warning and a chorus of boos. Failing to break it, like she failed to win the set, she flung the frame backward right into a cameraman’s lap. The incident was reminiscent of Novak Djokovic’s nearly costly racquet abuse at the French Open.

"I was just really, really, really angry. I had a lot of chances," Williams said. "She got really lucky on some shots.  She just was playing great.  I was a little disappointed in myself at that point."

The biggest question in the second set was if McHale could sustain her form. It seemed so right away with a hold for 1-0. That’s when Williams stepped on the gas, getting more shots in play, and using more angles to try to force McHale into the farthest corners of the court.

Williams began running away with the set rapidly until 5-1. To her credit, McHale’s attitude remained calmly intact despite the slide. Knowing a third set was unavoidable, she did her best to get back into the groove of putting more shots in the court, fighting back before Williams sealed the set, 6-2.

With that episode behind her, McHale pocketed the first game of the third set. She also broke for 2-0, looking more confident and inspired than ever, while Williams just looked moodier than ever.

Two back-to-back double faults from McHale let Williams back in the match for 2-1. With Williams on serve, she held at love for 2-all. Back in the driver’s seat, Williams went up two break points but failed to convert, leaving McHale hope at 3-2.

Feeling the enormity of the situation by now, McHale let slip the next game for 3-all. The fight from McHale wasn’t going to go away, and neither was Williams’ bad mood. The world No. 1 knew she didn’t need her best tennis to top the world No. 61, but she needed to show up.

"I'm great with momentum," Williams said. "If things aren't going my way, I try to hang in there another way and win. I like to believe it's something really great that I can do."

McHale kept up her spirit, fighting through a long seventh game to move ahead, 4-3. Williams wouldn’t go away easily either, hitting a creative drop shot to get back to 4-all.

Going shot for shot with Williams was one thing, but McHale had to put up something extra special to finally win two sets off the woman she watched win title after title growing up. Instead, Williams broke for the final time to go ahead, 5-4 with a chance to serve for the match.

By this stage, Williams had more than double as many unforced errors as McHale, but also nearly three times as many winners. She had more aces, faster serves, a higher percentage of service points won and more returns in play. Jim Courier, commentating, said Williams was in "warrior mode" in the third set.

"I felt like I was definitely in warrior mode," Williams agreed. "I was out there playing for my life at that point, trying to play to stay in the tournament."

And with more massive serving, including two straight aces to close it out, Williams got the nervy win, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4.

"I'm proud of how I closed it out that last game, I thought it was a very strong game," Williams said. "Being able to get through that match, it wasn't easy, but I was able to get through it."

It was disappointing to see McHale fall to Williams again, this time closer than ever, but the challenge should serve as a warning siren for Serena. She made her life extremely difficult, but didn’t seem fazed by it.

“I know mentally that one can break me,” Williams said. “I know its takes a lot to break me mentally. I knew being down a break in a third, I was going to have to put my mind in it, and that’s what I did.”