In 2014, Serena Williams came into the Asian swing fresh off winning the US Open. But she faced an unexpected hurdle in the first round of the China Open. She was on the verge of shockingly losing 0-6 in the first set against a much lower-ranked qualifier. However, not only did Williams avoid losing the set by an embarrassing scoreline, but she also completed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in tennis.
Serena bounced back to defeat Spanish qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa and kept her title defence alive. An injury, however, cut short her tournament prematurely later on. The American may have exited empty-handed but forged a memorable comeback for the ages.
Serena Williams saved set point to avoid bagel; went on to win the match
Williams won a record sixth US Open title in 2014 before jetting off to China. After withdrawing midway from the Wuhan Open due to illness, she arrived in Beijing for the China Open as the defending champion. Up against World No. 70 Soler-Espinosa, the World No.1 was expected to progress without breaking a sweat.
Soler-Espinosa, though, had different plans. The qualifier raced ahead 5-0 in the first set, threatening to inflict a bagel on Williams. Serena was heading towards a shocking upset but found her groove in a timely manner. She saved a set point and broke her opponent to finally win her first game. There was no stopping Williams thereafter. She was on a roll, not giving Soler-Espinosa leeway, winning the first set 7-5 after a roaring comeback. She kept the momentum going and dominated the second set to wrap up the match after an epic turnaround.
Overall, Williams won 13 out of 15 games after trailing 5-0 to win 7-5, 6-2. After the match, she said she fought hard because she did not want to suffer a bagel (via ESPN). The American icon said she pushed herself to ‘at least’ break her opponent.
“I didn’t want to lose 6-love. I just started fighting. I was like, just let me at least try to break here.”
Williams, unfortunately, could defend her title in Beijing. She withdrew because of injury before her quarter-final, bringing the curtains down on her Asian campaign for 2014.
Williams prematurely left China despite comeback victory
After her first round comeback, Williams defeated another qualifier and then #13 seed Lucie Safarova to set up a quarter-final clash with Samantha Stosur. Serena revealed she had intense pain in her left knee before her third-round match as well and almost pulled out of that fixture (via tennis.com). Her injury worsened after that and she decided to not play the quarter-final. Williams gave Stosur a walkover without taking to the court.
Williams said she played Safarova because she wanted to give her best at defending her title. She added she wanted to try playing through the pain because she has historically done well at the tournament. The 23-time Grand Slam winner expressed her frustration with not being able to defend her title.
“As a defending champ, you always want to do your best to defend your title. That’s why I played yesterday. I’ve got to at least give it a chance. I’ve done well here. This is my title. So more than anything, it’s extremely frustrating. I wanted to be here. To come all this way and not to take the title, it’s just a waste.”
The injury was fortunately short-lived. Williams was back within a few weeks for the WTA Finals. She successfully defended her title, winning the season-ending championship for the third time in a row, and fifth overall.
