The American top seed displayed tremendous level of resilience to overcome Pennetta 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in a thrilling contest that lasted one hour and 38 minutes.
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Williams, enjoying simply her second match since a fourth-round loss to sister Serena at Wimbledon, held serve to open the second set however then double faulted to present Lisicki a 2-1 lead.
She said Dragic will continue coaching her for the time being but added that wasn’t a permanent arrangement.
The 33-year-old Williams blamed unforced errors for her early struggles. “It was also such a tough match-up against Venus – it’s always a pleasure to play her because you know you have to play well to beat her, so I’m happy with my performance today”.
It was an apt analogy, considering she is the only player who competed in the 2001 Rogers Cup still active here this year.
Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., was set to face Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic in her first-round match on centre court at 7 p.m. Bouchard has lost 12 of her past 14 matches in WTA and Fed Cup play. “I wanted to start off this tournament well”, said Monfils, who has yet to win a Grand Slam in his career.
“I just told myself to drop it, like drop the racquet low and get ready to do everything I could to get into the game and to try to do different things, and that’s what I started doing out there”.
“I was really frustrated with how I was playing”, Williams said.
“It may be good as a result of I am going to play the most effective gamers ever”, stated Pennetta.
“I said, ‘Serena, you’re going to have to be positive and be good to yourself out here, ‘” Williams said.
When she found her groove in the middle of the second set, Williams was no match for Pennetta. “Getting better with age, I hope”.
Andrea Petkovic, the 16th seed, knocked out Canadian wildcard Francoise Abanda 3-6 6-4 6-2, Heather Watson thrashed Irina Falconi 6-1 6-2, and Dominika Cibulkova downed Sloane Stephens 6-3 6-4.
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While all four Grand Slam titles are already in her possession, a successful defense of her US Open crown next month would put Williams in an exclusive club along with Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court and Steffi Graf as the only women to have swept all four in a single season.
