World No 1 Serena Williams woke up after a slow start to battle past American compatriot Sloane Stephens in three sets to reach the quarter-finals at the WTA Indian Wells tournament on Tuesday.
The 19-time grand slam winner defeated a dogged Stephens 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-2 on centre court as her emotional return from a 14-year Indian Wells boycott gathers pace.
Williams, 33, said it was good to get the experience this week of playing a two-hour match.
“I still am trying to find my bearings,” she said. “I have been off a little this week.
“I just had to stay focused and use the experience of a three-set match.”
Williams, who blasted 14 aces and broke Stephens six times in the 2hrs 6mins match, faces Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland next.
The two former Fed Cup teammates have a colourful history after Stephens, 21, upset Williams in the quarter-finals of the 2013 Australian Open in three sets.
That win ended Williams’s 20-match winning streak and the two haven’t been best buddies since then.
Stephens gave an interview to a US magazine a couple months later saying Williams stopped talking to her after that and Stephens now describes their relationship as just “colleagues”.
Williams got her revenge later in 2013 at the US Open when she beat Stephens 6-4, 6-1 in the round of 16 and Tuesday’s contest was their first since then.
Stephens’s best moments came in the first set, but after that Williams was able to take charge.
The younger American came out with more energy as Williams was broken in her first two service games of the opening set. That allowed Stephens to jump out to a 3-0 lead, before Williams shook off the cobwebs.
After four service breaks in the opening six games, the two held serve to force a tiebreaker. Stephens won that on the first set point.
Williams broke Stephens in the opening game of the second, then took command midway through the set. She won the final three games, clinching the set in style with an ace.
The third set was similar to the second, as Williams broke Stephens in the first game then won the final three games to win the match.
Williams said that being No 1 means she can’t take any opponent for granted because they step up their game against her.
“It does no good to scout players because they all play totally different against me,” Williams said. “Once you accept that you will be fine.”
Williams is competing for the first time in Indian Wells since her self-imposed exile began after she won the 2001 final over Kim Clijsters 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Williams says she is trying to forget the events of 2001, when the 19-year-old was booed during the final. Fans accused her of rigging matches against her sister Venus and Serena countered by saying that some resorted to hurling racial slurs at her and her family members who were attending the tournament that year.
Eslewhere, defending champion Flavia Pennetta from Italy sent world No 2 Maria Sharapova crashing out of Indian Wells on Tuesday, winning a three-set, two-hour marathon after almost letting her emotions get the best of her.
Pennetta got off to a rough start in the opening set and it wasn’t until after she broke down emotionally that she says she was able to rally for the 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 fourth round victory.
“Sometimes a woman has these moments,” said Pennetta, adding she felt “refreshed” after leaving the court and going into the tunnel area under the stands, where she let loose with a screaming, sobbing and crying episode.
“Sometimes you just need to take everything out. On the court it is not easy to do that.
“I was just trying to keep calm and play every point. But when I finished the first set I was feeling, I have to go out ... just go and let everything out, screaming, do something.
“After that I was refreshed a little bit and I tried to get back on the court and start again.”
Asked by reporters if there might be something going on in her personal life that would cause her to do that, Pennetta said without hesitation, “Si, si. I am really happy.”
Happy indeed, after shocking the five-time grand slam winner and second seed Sharapova, who was hoping to become the first three-time women’s winner at Indian Wells.
“No real excuses. I went out and lost the match,” Sharapova said.
Sharapova committed 11 double faults and was broken four times.
Pennetta advanced to the quarter-finals, where she will meet Sabine Lisicki of Germany.
Pennetta, who won her 10th and biggest title of her career with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Agnieszka Radwanska last year, extended her match winning streak to nine.
Sharapova started the season by winning her 34th career singles title in Brisbane, Australia then reached the Australian Open final where she lost to Serena Williams.
Sharapova said she didn’t see Pennetta leave the court so she had no idea what was going on.
“News to me,” she said when told of the defending champ’s breakdown. “She was seeing the ball much better than I was.”
This was the fifth career meeting between the two with Pennetta now holding a 3-2 edge.
In Tuesday’s other contests, Bacsinszky beat Elina Svitolina to arrange her match with Williams 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, and Lisicki swept by Caroline Garcia 6-4, 6-4 to meet Pennetta.
Jelena Jankovic topped Swiss teen sensation Belinda Bencic, who had earlier knocked out Caroline Wozniacki, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, as well.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE