On Wednesday, Serena Williams won at the WTA Toronto tournament against Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 6-3.
“I feel like my movement is great — been working on my fitness, so I felt like it really was able to shine through today. I’m loving going out there and I’m loving kind of running. So it’s a good thing.” Williams said.
Ranked 10th, William seeks her fourth WTA Canada crown after 2001, 2011, and 2013 and improved her match record at the event to 31-4, winning half the 10 break points she earned against Mertens.
“Now that I’m just injury-free, I’m just enjoying being able to train, and I haven’t been able to do it since January, really,” The winner said.
She added, “So I just think that the fact that I can train and practice and get in the gym is really going to be helpful for me.”
READ: Serena Williams Beat by Simona Halep at Wimbledon
“I know when I got down one break I got real negative,” Williams said.
“I don’t know what happened on the first time I got down. (She) just played really well. She’s obviously a really good player. I just needed to just double down and get more focused.”
Mertens broke for a 2-1 lead but Williams answered in the sixth game to pull level at 3-3.
Next in the path of the former world number one will be Russian qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova, who eliminated China’s Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-3.