Serena Williams battles into JPMorgan Chase Semifinals

Serena Williams’ comeback has not been a stroll in the park, but she survived another tough, three-set match for a spot in the JPMorgan Chase Open semifinals. Williams, who was playing only her eleventh match of the season, battled past Meghann Shaughnessy in three sets 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4.

This afternoon was my first chance to see Serena in action since the Australian Open, and overall, she is playing much better and her fitness has come a long way from her shoddy performance in Melbourne. She is somewhat rusty, and still looks a little out of shape, but her confidence and fighting spirit is back. Her movement is not yet at a top level, but that will only improve with more matchplay as her injured knee continues to heal.

Meghann Shaughnessy has the distinction of being the only American woman to win a WTA Tour level singles tournament all season, and her match today against Serena showed that when she is on top of her game, she can slug it out with the best of the hard-court players on tour. Shaughnessy came back from a 2-4 deficit in the tie break to take the opening set 7-6 (4).

It was as if a different Serena came out to play the second set as she raced to a 4-0 lead before Shaughnessy even managed to get on the scoreboard. Her shots were more accurate, she looked more relaxed, and easily held to win the set 6-1. The third set saw Shaughnessy step up the level of her game, but Serena grabbed her first break of the set for a 5-3 lead. She had a chance to serve the match out, but Shaughnessy held her at 15-40 to recover the break. Shaughnessy could not hold her own serve in the next service game, and double-faulted on Serena’s second match point.

Serena awaits the winner of the Ana Ivanovic/Jelena Jankovic match in tomorrow’s semifinals.

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