Serena Williams stages epic comeback to reach French Open semis

Serena Williams came back from the brink of elimination Thursday to advance to the French Open semifinals.

The world No. 1 dug herself out of a 5-7, 0-1 hole to knock off Yulia Putintseva in three sets.

Putintseva, currently ranked No. 60, put Williams on the defensive early on. The 21-year-old was able to dictate the pace of the match by comfortably handling Williams’ power and sending her running all across the court. Williams struggled to gain a rhythm, putting up 24 unforced errors and dropping the first set.

It took until the second game of the second set for Williams to find the aggressiveness she had been lacking. She changed her strategy, adding in drop shots and smashing volleys to take Putintseva off of her game. Williams took a 4-1 lead, and looked primed for an easy set victory, but Putintseva wasn’t done fighting.

Putintseva won the sixth game, stole a break thanks to a Williams’ double-fault on break point and came back from 40-0 in the eighth game to tie the set at 4-4. She nearly won the next game to serve for the match, but it would be Williams who took a 5-4 lead after Putintseva suffered a rare unforced error.

Putintseva’s emotions then began to get the best of her, as she double-faulted to drop the set and subsequently smashed her racquet.

Williams was fully in control in the third, winning 6-1 to complete the epic comeback and move on to her second-straight Roland Garros semifinal.

She will face world No. 58 Kiki Bertens, who helped knock the Williams sisters out of doubles play earlier this week, in Friday’s semifinal match. Bertens is playing in her first semifinal at a Grand Slam event after she downed Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-2.