Serena Williams fights way to semifinals at French Open

PARIS — Playing far from her best, frustrated, and five points from defeat, Serena Williams let out a roar as she lifted her arms over her head, looking to the sky: She wasn’t quite done yet at the French Open.

After doing so five times at this event en route to the title in 2015, the world No. 1 and defending champion battled back from the brink in three sets, a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 victor over 60th-ranked Yulia Putintseva from Kazakhstan.

Williams, 34, is into the semifinals at Roland Garros for the fifth time in her career and third time in four years. She keeps alive her hope of equaling Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 majors won, having been stuck at 21 since last year’s dramatic U.S. Open exit.

The American will face world No. 58 Kiki Bertens, who is on a Cinderella run here, the Dutchwoman beating No. 8 seed Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-2 on Court Suzanne Lenglen. She has now won 12 matches in a row dating to her last tournament.

With Williams flat-footed and at times lethargic, the 21-year-old Putintseva, with a fiery personality and loopy, spin-heavy shots, took advantage. She won 14 of 15 points after trailing love-40 at 5-all on Williams’ serve in the first set, taking a set lead and breaking to start the second, 1-0.

Scoreline: [1] Serena Williams (USA) def. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 5-7, 6-4, 6-1

It was the third time Williams and Putintseva had met, Serena having won both of their prior meetings, including at Indian Wells earlier this year. It was there that Putintseva failed to serve out the first set twice, yips she corrected on Thursday when she closed out the first as Williams belted a backhand into the doubles alley.

What it means: It was the first set that Williams had lost this tournament, but it means that she is still alive, having found a way and still aiming for Graf’s No. 22. Serena was felled by Italian Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open last September as she chased history with the calendar Grand Slam, then came up short in the Australian Open final against Angelique Kerber in January. Both Vinci and Kerber lost in the first round here.

Williams remains by and far the women’s favorite, no matter who she faces in the semifinals. Garbiñe Muguruza, the No. 4 seed, and a resurgent Sam Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open winner (over Williams) are facing off in the bottom half’s semifinal. Serena is a combined 11-4 against the two, though she has lost to each of them at this event in the past.

How it happened: Sluggishly, if you are named Serena. She was dragged into Putintseva’s game for much of the match, trading high, cresting balls and using space over power. After losing the first set, however, Williams jumped to a 4-1 lead in the second. Putintseva roared back, Putintseva saving game points at 2-4 and 3-4, the latter in which she trailed love-40 on her own serve.

But it wasn’t enough, Williams throwing her arms up after saving two break points in the 12-point ninth game of the second set, taking a 5-4 lead. Putintseva would double fault on her second set point down against Williams, sending the match into a decider.

It was there that the experienced Williams appeared to start anew. She hit a cleaner, more power-laden ball to kick off the third set, holding and then breaking for a 2-0 lead. She kissed a nice backhand volley winner off her racket to go up 3-0, then out-grunted Putintseva to secure another break, a seemingly insurmountable lead hers at 4-0.

Williams needed four match points to close this one out, jumping to a 40-love lead at 5-1 serving. But Putintseva came up with some of her best tennis with her back against the wall, hitting a pair of winners.

Key stat: Williams was victim of her own form for much of the match, hitting 37 unforced errors in the first two sets. But she made 63 percent of her first serves and won 68 percent of those points, hitting four aces and 36 winners overall. Putintseva had 18 winners on the match.

The stat of this match was the intangible: Serena played into Putintseva’s gameplan for much of the match and it almost worked in favor of the Kazakh.

What she said: “She played unbelievable,” Williams said on court of Putintseva. “I didn’t think I was going to win that in the second set. Somehow I did. And I’m really excited.”

No stopping: After rain delays over the weekend and early week, Williams will be due back on court again on Friday, her third match day in a row. Should she make the final it will be four matches in four days, much different than the usually-scheduled day of rest in between matches at majors.

History awaits: Like Novak Djokovic on the men’s side, Serena continues to go after history. She is two matches from equaling Graf’s 22-Slam record, though Margaret Court has the most majors in the history of the game, having won 24 in total.

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