Serena rolls to the third round of the U.S. Open after beating the No. 2 seed Kontaveit

Serena Williams might no longer be the No. 1 player in the world, but at the U.S. Open on Wednesday night she was remembering how the best in the business fight to win matches.

The No. 605-ranked Williams, who didn’t play a match between Wimbledon 2021 and Wimbledon 2022, battled to a 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-2 win against No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.

“I’m loving this crowd,” Williams told the cheering fans after the match. “Oh my goodness, it’s really fantastic. There’s still a little more left in me.

“This is what I do best.”

The Kontaveit outing is only her sixth match played in the past 14 months — she has now won three of those matches.

“I’m just pleased I showed up because the last few tournaments I didn’t show up,” Williams said. “But, like I said, I’ve been practicing really well and I’m pleased that I’m finally seeing my practice come into my matches, so that’s nice.”

Williams, who has sent out signals this U.S. Open is likely to be the last stop of her career, had history on her side in this second-round encounter.

She came into the match with a 74-2 winning record in second-round matches at the Grand Slams. She lost the first time to sister, Venus, in the 1998 Australian Open, and then to Garbine Muguruza of Spain in the 2014 French Open.

She also now holds an impressive 48-15 record when playing one of the top two-ranked opponents in her career, winning 23 of her last 25 encounters.

There’s no denying that Williams is the more notable player than Kontaveit — she is a 23-time Grand Slam champion with six of those titles coming at the U.S. Open.

This marks Williams’s 21st trip to the U.S. Open — she won her first career Grand Slam title here over then world No. 1 Martina Hingis in 1999. Overall, this is the 81st Grand Slam tournament that she has played.

In contrast, Kontaveit’s best Grand Slam career result in 29 appearances was reaching the quarterfinals at the 2020 Australian Open.

Williams’s first-round victory over Danka Kovinic of Montenegro on Monday added another historical detail to her credentials.

She became the fourth woman in history to win a U.S. Open match in their teens, twenties, thirties and forties. The other three players to achieve that feat were Venus Williams, Martina Navratilova and Kimiko Date of Japan.

Williams was poised to nail down the opening set when she broke Kontaveit’s serve at 30-40 in the ninth game on a Kontaveit unforced backhand error.

While Williams couldn’t close out the set in that 10th game, she shrugged off the missed opportunity and went on to take the set in the tiebreaker.

Kontaveit appeared annoyed after losing the opening set and stepped up her performance to control the second set, but she couldn’t build on the momentum.

The third set was pure William guts and determination as she showed Kontaveit rankings can be deceiving.

“I think she did everything better,” Kontaveit said.

Williams’ next assignment will be playing Ajla Tomljanovic, a Croatian-born, Australian citizen who has lived in Boca Raton for most of her life. Tomljanovic defeated Evgrniya Rodina of Russia 6-1, 2-6, 7-5.

Fellow Floridian Coco Gauff, the No. 12 seed, moved into the third round on Wednesday with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) win over No. 101-ranked Elena Gabriela Ruse of Romania.

Gauff will next play No. 20 seed Madison Keys, who grew up in nearby Boca Raton. Keys earned her third-round spot with a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (10-6) victory over Camila Giorgi of Italy.

“ I think the challenge [against Keys] will be just being aggressive,” Gauff said. “I mean, she’s an aggressive player, so I feel like I need to take my chances when I can.”

Andy Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion who for many years maintained a residence in Miami, defeated American wildcard Emilio Nava 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 in his second-round match.

“My body is responding well to playing matches,” said Murray, who was close to retirement before successful hip resurfacing surgery in January 2019.

“Today I think physically I was stronger than him at the end of the match, which is a really positive thing, obviously. My game improved as the match went on.”