WTA: She’s back!

Serena Williams made a successful comeback 404 days after her last official singles match. She won against Zarina Diyas in two sets.

By Florian Goosmann from Indian Wells

A sluggish appearance at the invitation tournament in Abu Dhabi at the end of last year, a double defeat in the Fed Cup and the announcement of her critical pregnancy left many questions unanswered – Serena Williams gave an impressive answer on Thursday evening in Indian Wells. Against 24-year-old Kazakh Zarina Diyas, currently number 54 in the world, Williams won 7-5,6-3.

Even the invasion of the square was emotional. Williams walked up in knee-length black leggings, wore a training jacket and glanced into the crowd. At the first change of sides, a fan made the first rapturous applause:”Come on, Serena, you can do it – welcome home!”, he shouted as usual after the first game when Williams ran on the opposite side of the referee’s chair to the other side.

The 36-year-old started aggressively into the match and dictated the rallies close to the baseline without overpowering. Diyas picked up the game after a 2:2 and 0:40 and fought off a total of five break points, Williams then struck 5:5 and served home the first set.

In the second half Diyas tried to get Williams to move more, but the US-American changed all her attempts to win her own points and won the early break 2-1, but afterwards she seemed to be a bit out of breath. Diyas fought right back, followed by three more breaks to the 4:3 lead for Williams, who didn’t let anything burn anymore.

“It was unbelievable, it’s been over a year now,”said a very happy Williams on the pitch,”I was a bit rusty, but it’s all right,” For Williams the match against Diyas was the first singles match since the 28th minute. January 2017, when she won her 23rd place in the finals of the Australian Open against sister Venus. Grand Slam title.

In Indian Wells, she will face 29 seeded Kiki Bertens in round two, after which the Sister Act against Sister Venus could take place.

You can find the entire ladies tableau here