Serena Williams’ match was more than an hour old Monday before she began providing a soundtrack for her comeback.
“Come on!” she shouted at her fist through gritted teeth. Her demeanor transformed, Williams rallied past Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round of the Sony Open 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Williams, seeking her sixth Key Biscayne title was down a service break trailing 4-1 in the second set before she swept the final five games of the set. She also won the last three games of the match and served it out at love with three aces. “I just felt slow and sluggish,” she said. Williams’ opponent in the quarterfinals Tuesday will be li Na, who beat Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Maria Sharapova reached the quarterfinals by beating Klara Zakopalova 6-2, 6-2, while America’s Sloane Stephens was eliminated by Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.
That spoiled the possibility of a rematch in the semifinals between Williams and Stephens, who pulled off an upset when they met at the Australian Open in January.
In men’s third-round play, Andy Murray beat Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (3), 6-3. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-3, American Sam Querrey advanced when No. 14-seeded Milos Raonic withdrew because of illness and American John Isner lost to Marin Cilic, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Mixed bag for Indians
Sania Mirza kept Indian hopes alive by progressing to the women’s doubles quarter-finals.
Sania and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands overcame Jarmila Gajdosova and Sabine lisicki 6-1, 3-6, 10-7 in the second round.
They will now fight it out with Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci for a place in the semifinals.
In the men’s doubles second round, unseeded Rohan Bopanna and Rajiv Ram were knocked out by Marcel Granollers and Marc lopez 6-4, 7-6(5).