Serena Williams survives scare against Italian Sara Errani

Top-ranked Serena Williams had to fight it off against Italy’s Sara Errani 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a Fed Cup playoff on Sunday.

“The wind helped me,” Errani said. “Against a player like her it favoured me.”

In the post match interview, Serena mentioned some things she had to keep in mind with regard to her training pattern for the clay season:

“I don’t think I ever really got the hang of it,” Williams said. “I really struggled today in the wind, on both sides. I don’t know what side was worse for me. Usually I’m able to adjust and it’s a little disappointing that I wasn’t able to adjust sooner.

“Today has been a big eye opener,” Williams added. “I need to go home and really train. I’m totally not as ready for clay-court season as I thought I was. … Next time I’ll be really, really ready and I’ll know what to expect. Now I’m in the mindset of, ‘You know what, I’m not on hard court.’ I’m playing like I’m on hard court and I’m not. So I have to play and be ready to hit a thousand shots if necessary.”

Still, Williams improved to 20-0 this year and 16-0 in Fed Cup for her career.