Serena Williams, of the United States, celebrates after scoring a point against Caroline Garcia, of France, at the Sony Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla., Saturday, March 22, 2014. Williams won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. AP
KEY BISCAYNE, Florida — Serena Williams overcame some sloppy play to reach the fourth round at the Sony Open by beating Caroline Garcia of France 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday.
Williams is playing in her first tournament after a monthlong layoff, and rustiness may explain her 41 unforced errors, including seven double-faults. And Garcia kept Williams on her heels with deep groundstrokes and serves that topped out at 117 mph (189 kph).
“I can play a hundred times better,” Williams said. “I really gave myself a tremendous amount of trouble out there. Granted she played great, but I made so many errors … 40-something errors. It’s not the way to play professional tennis. Maybe amateur.”
She and Garcia engaged in side-to-side baseline exchanges had the stadium crowd roaring, and Williams needed 2 1/2 hours to complete the victory. But she finished in a hurry, serving out the final game at love with the help of consecutive aces.
Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has predicted that Garcia will someday climb to No. 1, but the Frenchwoman is 0-3 against Williams.
“It’s always nice to play against a big player,” Garcia said. “You are working and practicing to play this match, because it’s in this kind of match you can learn more. But next time I prefer to win.”
Ranked No. 1, Williams is playing for the 14th time at Key Biscayne, an hour from her home in Palm Beach Gardens. She won the event for the first time in 2002 and tied Andre Agassi’s record of six titles last year.
Three-time champion Novak Djokovic was off Saturday but advanced to the fourth round anyway when his next scheduled opponent, Florian Mayer, withdrew because of a groin injury. Djokovic’s next match will be Tuesday.
Stanislas Wawrinka bounced back from his first loss of the year by beating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 after a first-round bye.
Wawrinka, who won the Australian Open in January, improved to 14-1 this year. His lone defeat came last week in the fourth round at Indian Wells to Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
Wawrinka has never reached the quarterfinals in five previous appearances at Key Biscayne, but then he has never been ranked this high.
“I’m No. 2 in the world,” he said. “I know that if I play my best tennis I can be a favorite of the tournament. I know how well I can play.”
Wawrinka hit 33 winners against Gimeno-Traver and shook off some sloppy play midway through the match.
“I was negative in the second set, a little bit stupidly, but then I’m really happy the way I start the third set,” Wawrinka said. “First one here, it’s never easy. The condition was really slow today, really humid. You need to get through.”
No. 7 Tomas Berdych joined Wawrinka in the third round by beating Stephane Robert of France 7-6 (5), 6-1. No. 10-seeded John Isner rallied to win an all-American matchup against Donald Young, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. Isner is back in the top 10 this week for the first time in 18 months.
Ana Ivanovic advanced to the fourth round by beating Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4, 6-3, improving to 5-1 this year against top-20 players.
Angelique Kerber, seeded No. 5, defeated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-0, 6-2, and No. 8 Petra Kvitova beat Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-4.
Sabine Lisicki of Germany withdrew because of the flu, giving Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium a walkover. Ekaterina Makarova of Russia beat No. 9 Sara Errani of Italy 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Seeded men eliminated included No. 19 Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, No. 23 Gael Monfils of France, and No. 25 Marin Cilic of Croatia.