Dubai: World number one Serena Williams hopes to shake off the rust in time to mount a serious challenge for the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open trophy on Saturday.
Serena opened her Dubai campaign with a second-round win over Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (8), 6-0 on Tuesday night.
A back injury had kept Serena out of action for the past few weeks, including the Qatar Open in Doha.
The 32-year-old, who last year became the oldest world number one, had opened the year with her 58th singles WTA title in Brisbane and reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, where she lost to former world number one Ana Ivanovic.
After skipping Doha, Serena accepted a last-minute wild card along with older sister Venus to travel to Dubai to gauge her injury going into the demanding hard-court season in the US starting with Indian Wells and Miami.
“I felt so rusty out there and a little frustrated. I have been practising and I was like, ‘Gosh, this isn’t what I practised’. But I was just really excited to get through that,” Serena said after becoming the first player through to the quarter-finals, where she will meet the winner of the second-round match between Lucie Safarova and Jelena Jankovic, on Thursday.
“Yeah, I was really telling myself to stay positive, because I was making a lot of errors that I normally don’t make, and my serve just wasn’t popping the way it normally is. I was trying to get some sort of rhythm out there,” she added.
Serena was tested to the limit in the opening set that she went on to win 7-6 and then took the second 6-0 to book her place in the quarter-finals. “It definitely got better in the second set and I think the first set helped me as I was playing long points and hitting a lot of balls and doing a lot of moving,” she said.
This is the American’s fourth visit to Dubai including her withdrawal with injury last year before even playing a match. Previous to that, she made semi-final appearances on both occasions.
The world number one admitted she has no special motivation to go all the way this time. “There is no extra motivation. I couldn’t have any more motivation than what I already have. I don’t think it’s humanly possible. I’m always so motivated every time I play. I’m a complete perfectionist. I just want to do better and better,” she said.
“I want to obviously have to play better if I want to do better here. I’m happy to get the win.”