Venus rallies to win at Key Biscayne

KEY BISCAYNE, Florida (AP) ― Weary winner Venus Williams stood near the net swatting souvenir balls to cheering fans, but a marathon match had taken its toll, and one of her attempts didn’t even reach the stands.

Williams had already expended all her energy, erasing a match point and outlasting Aleksandra Wozniak 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in Sunday’s third round at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Her career comeback now includes a come-from-behind win. Williams is playing in her first tournament since withdrawing from the U.S. Open last August after being diagnosed with a fatigue-causing autoimmune disease.

The three-set victory was her second in less than 48 hours, and took nearly three hours.

“I just kept coming back,” Williams said. “I tried not to let anything discourage me.”

Other winners included Rafael Nadal, bidding for his first Key Biscayne title, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Wozniak served for the match at 5-4 in the final set, but dumped a forehand in the net when she had a match point. Talking later about the situation, Williams claimed to be unaware Wozniak had been so close to victory.

“She had match point?” Williams said. “Oh no. Thank God I’m oblivious to the score a lot of times.”

The tiebreaker swung Williams’ way when she smacked an overhead that clipped the net cord before landing softly for a winner and a 4-2 lead. On the final point, she somehow found the strength to whack a 119-mph service winner.

“That’s the serve I wanted ― just a big one to hopefully force the issue,” Williams said. “Thank God it went in. Wow.”

She’ll need to recover quickly for a fourth-round match Monday night against No. 15-seeded Ana Ivanovic, who beat No. 20 Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 7-6 (2).