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The shadow of last year’s final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer looms large over Wimbledon 2009. The greatest match of all time they called it. How do you top that? Well, we may never know as news reports say that Nadal may not compete in this year’s event. See our Tennis page for details.

Serena Williams huffed and puffed her way into the second round of the French Open on Tuesday, ending a run of four straight defeats in the process.

Williams needed nine match points to finish off the brave challenge of Klara Zakapalova, winning one of the best matches of the tournament so far 6-3 6-7 (5/7) 6-4.

The little-known Czech had looked down and out when she trailed by a set and 5-3 but she saved five match points in the second set before winning it on a tie-break and then came back from 5-2 down in the decider before finally slipping to a narrow defeat.

Williams, the champion at Roland Garros in 2002, came into the match having lost her last four matches, three of them on clay, with her last win coming back on April 2.

She soon set about ending that miserable run and took the first set comfortably enough.

Zakapalova, who had beaten Williams during her barren run in Marbella last month, raced into a 3-0 lead in the second but the American struck back to reel off five games in a row.

At that stage the game looked up for the Czech but she dug deep to hold in game nine, saving five match points, much the delight of the Court Suzanne Lenglen fans.

She had produced some impressive tennis and continued to raise her level as she traded with the powerful Williams from the back of the court, despite giving away almost 3st in weight.

Her determination earned further reward when Williams double-faulted in the following game to make it 5-5.

A tie-break followed and in it Zakapalova moved 6-2 ahead. Williams saved three set points but was then left wrong-footed on the baseline and found herself in a final set.

The alarm bells must have been ringing when Williams was broken in game three of the decider and then fell 40-0 down.

But Zakapalova failed to make it 3-1 and was also unable to take another break-point opportunity in Williams’ next service game.

Williams duly broke and at 5-2 looked home and hosed.

Yet there was still drama to come as Zakapalova saved three more match points at 3-5 and then broke serve again to make it 5-4.

But when serving to level up at 5-5 the world number 100 finally wilted and after two hours and 25 minutes on court, she sent a forehand wide to give Williams a hard-fought victory.

The second seed will play Virginia Ruano Pascual in the next round.

MELBOURNE - Second seed Rafael Nadal survived an early test of his Australian Open credentials, battling to a 7-6 7-5 6-1 win over Viktor Troicki, a Serbian qualifier in his first grand slam appearance.

Showing no signs of nerves, world number 126 Troicki forced a set point at 6-5 in the first set and led 4-2 in the second before Nadal finally wore him down to clinch victory in two hours, 35 minutes.

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“He played very, very aggressively,” Nadal said in a courtside interview.

“Today I was struggling at some times in the match. I couldn’t get the rhythm in the beginning but in the third set I think I played a bit better.”

In the cool evening conditions, Nadal missed the chance to serve out for the first set at 5-4 and then had to save a set point in the 12th game, before winning the tiebreak 7-3.

Troicki then broke in the third game of the second set on his way to a 4-2 lead but Nadal leveled at 4-4 and after pinching the set, he eased through the third to win a match that finished in the early hours of Tuesday.

See more tennis news here: Tennis News