Serena rolls on at Madrid Masters

Serena Williams celebrates after beating Vera Dushevina 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) in a second round match of the Madrid Masters yesterday. pic/afp

However, it was not such a good day for third seed and defending champion Dinara Safina, who became the latest big name to tumble out of the women's tournament.

Williams lost the first set and also saved a match point against Dushevina before eventually seeing off her Russian opponent 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5) in three hours and 26 minutes.

It was the longest match of Williams' career but ensured the top seed, who needed treatment for a thigh problem, got back to winning ways after the disappointing loss to Jelena Jankovic in the semi-finals in Rome last week. Williams, who held a match point in the deciding set against Jankovic, said: "I felt really bad about losing last time when I had match point and I just wanted to hang in there today. I feel really proud because I definitely wasn't playing my best tennis. I was far off from playing well. Also, after playing a match for three hours, I was determined to win."

The big casualty was Safina, who Safina lost to Czech qualifier Klara Zakopalova 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/3) to join Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin in making an early exit.

The only other seed to fall was No 10 Victoria Azarenka, who retired at 0-3 down to Shuai Peng.

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