Serena shows fighting spirit

Serena Williams struggled but finally booked her place in the fourth round of the US Open at Flushing Meadow.

The six-time Grand Slam-winner was forced to pull out all the stops against 30th seed Tatiana Golovin before winning 7-5 6-4.

The third seed trailed in the opening set after losing four straight games but then won eight of the next nine to take the match.

Williams admitted: “It was pretty tough out there, I kept making errors. I couldn’t get the balls in.”

Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova played out the best women’s match of the tournament so far.

Schnyder, the 25th seed, just outbattled the unseeded Hantuchova 6-4 4-6 7-6 (8/6) to reach the fourth round.

The match lasted two hours 36 minutes, with the decisive set taking 69 minutes to be completed.

Hantuchova, who is ranked 32nd in the world but was as high as fifth last year, beat Olympic bronze medalist Alicia Molik of Australia, the 17th seed, in the first round.

On match point, Schnyder hit a hard serve into Hantuchova’s forehand that the Slovakian sent soaring over the baseline.

“I just lost the last point,” Hantuchova said. “That’s all that happened. I went for it and I was trying to be aggressive all the way till the end.”

Tenth seed Vera Zvonareva defeated Australian Open semi-finalist Fabiola Zuluaga 6-4 7-5, while 16th seed Francesca Schiavone ended wild card Angela Haynes’ run 6-3 7-6 (7/3)

Second seed Amelie Mauresmo of France easily defeated 31st seed Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela 6-2 6-0 in a match that took just 57 minutes.

“I felt more comfortable. Everything is coming together,” said Mauresmo, who was pushed to three sets in her previous match by Julia Vakulenko of the Ukraine.

A Wimbledon semi-finalist, Mauresmo has won three titles this year and also reached the Olympic final.

Twelfth seed Ai Sugiyama, of Japan, was also an easy winner, needing just 58 minutes to eliminate Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-1 6-3.

Sixth seed Elena Dementieva of Russia had an even simpler time, moving into the fourth round with a walkover when 28th seed Nathalie Dechy of France withdrew due to a left thigh strain.