Serena advances into third round of Sony Open after trailing Shvedova in first set

During the second round of the women's singles at the Sony Open, it looked like Serena Williams would be knocked out during her first match in the tournament. Yet the fiery American and the world's number one ranked player, staged a comeback after losing the first set of the match to pull a 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 win over 64th world ranked, Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The March 20 match at Miami started slowly for Williams, who trailed 5-3 behind Shvedova in the first set.  However Williams managed to force a tiebreaker after an error by Shvedova, though again the six-time Sony Open champion fell behind to 6-3 at one point.  Williams managed to capitalize on another group of errors by Shvedova, a forehand into the net and a double-fault, which gave Williams the opportunity to come back and seal the deal with two aces and a backhand. After a pair of breaks in the second set, Williams appeared to get into a rhythm and won with an aced match point.

Williams hasn't played a tennis match since Dubai on Feb. 21 where she was knocked out much earlier than expected. She has been suffering from back issues since the Australian Open where she suffered a fourth round loss.

Two other former number ones, Russia's Maria Sharapova and Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, will join Williams in the third round after playing far less dramatic matches in the second round. Sharapova beat Japan's Kurumi Nara 6-3, 6-4, while Ivanovic beat American Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-1.
It was a positive day for American players in the men's singles tournament at least. Jack Sock, Ryan Harrison, Sam Querrey, and Donald Young all advanced.

Wild card Harrison earned his fourth win of the season after he defeated Argentinean Federico Delbonis, the recent Sao Paulo champion, 6-2, 6-4, while Sock knocked out Argentinean Guido Pella 6-3, 6-4. Querrey defeated Ukraine's Sergiv Stakhovsky 7-6, 6-3, and Young defeated Argentinean Carlos Berlocq 6-2, 6-2, to advance, where he'll be facing American John Isner.
March 22 will see the third round of the women's singles take place, as well as the second round of the men's doubles tournament.

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