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Not satisfied

Serena will take the win, despite mistake-filled second set

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Serena Williams admits she relaxed after a dominating the first set. AP

PARIS (Reuters) -- Serena Williams said she was upset with herself after her scrappy second-round victory over Slovenian qualifier Katarina Srebotnik at the French Open on Thursday.

The younger of the two Williams sisters swept through the first set but was plagued by errors in the second before completing a 6-0 7-5 victory over her 20-year-old opponent, ranked 138th in the world.

"I couldn't stop making mistakes," the sixth seed said. "I just kept hitting balls out, hitting them in the net.

"It was actually disappointing, upsetting that I would behave in that manner."

Srebotnik led 5-4 in the second set before succumbing to the American's superior power from the back of the court.

Williams has been hampered by a knee injury in recent weeks and says she is only "90 percent" fit.

As a result she and sister Venus have pulled out of the doubles, but the 19-year-old believes it will be her mental approach which determines how she does at Roland Garros.

"If I don't win the title it would definitely not be due to the fact that I'm out of shape," she said.

"If anything Paris is more mental. You have to be mentally ready to play. You have to be mentally ready to rally, mentally ready to just keep going."

Williams's performance mirrored her first-round win over Frenchwoman Sarah Pitkowski, when she won the first set easily but lost the second.

"I wasn't very happy with my performance today because I was doing so well in the first set," she said.

"I think again I got too confident and I let my opponent back into the match. I'm going to work on that in the next round. I'm going to work on staying focused throughout the whole match."

Williams will face Germany's Barbara Rittner or Hungarian qualifier Zsofia Gubacsi in the third round.

 

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