Venus Williams saved three match points as she roared back for a 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 victory over old foe Jelena Jankovic on Saturday and a place in the third round at Indian Wells. The seven-time Grand Slam champion, her right arm bandaged and her serve speed down, surrendered the first set in just 20 minutes and was quickly down a break at 3-1 in the second.
"I definitely wasn't able to do everything I wanted to," she said. "Took me some time to kind of get my head around that.
"You have to get disciplined and just try to deal with what's at hand and try to use the tools you have on this particular day," said Williams, who did so with a vengeance.
She broke Jankovic twice to take a 5-4 lead in the second set before the Serb veteran, like Williams a former world number one, broke in the 10th game to pull level at 5-5.
Williams next faces Czech Lucie Safarova, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 winner over American Coco Vandeweghe.
There was no such drama for second-seeded Angelique Kerber, who raced into the third round with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over fellow German Andrea Petkovic.
Kerber, who is assured of reclaiming the number one world ranking when the tournament ends thanks to Serena Williams' injury withdrawal, reversed a run of poor fortune in the California desert, where she hadn't made it out of her tournament opener since 2011.
"Of course, it was not so easy to play against her, we know each other very long," Kerber said.