Vera Zvonareva battled to a three-set win over Serena Williams in the second round at Eastbourne.
American exits in second round of first tournament for almost a year
Top seed Vera Zvonareva produced a stirring recovery to defeat Serena Williams in the second round of the AEGON International at Eastbourne.
Seeking to
follow sister Venus into the quarter-finals, Williams hit 59 winners but her serve was broken - via an unfortunate double fault caused by two net-cords - while serving for the match at 6-3 5-4, and she went on to lose the set in a tiebreak.
The tables were turned as the American saved three match points with Zvonareva serving for victory at 5-4 in the third set.
But it was a temporary reprieve as the Russian broke back and served out to love for a 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 7-5 victory over the reigning Wimbledon champion, who was playing her first tournament since her SW19 triumph last year due to health problems.
"It was definitely a tough match, Serena is a great champion and played some unbelievable tennis after a year not playing. A lot of respect to her," said Zvonareva.
"I was really happy with the way I played today and that I won this match."
Williams added: "It was a good two matches for me. I couldn't be happier with the amount of tennis that I've played.
"I haven't played in almost a year, so I'm a little sore. Grass always gets you a little sore. It's good I'm sore now, because hopefully next week I won't be as sore."
Zvonareva next plays Australian seventh seed Sam Stosur, who beat Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 6-3 6-2.
