Serena survives US Open upset bid from teen McNally

Serena Williams withstood a "rough and rowdy" challenge from 17-year-old American wildcard Caty McNally at the US Open on Wednesday to keep her bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title intact.

Williams, a six-time champion in New York, recovered from dropping the opening set to prevail 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 and set up a third-round showdown with either 29th seed Hsieh Su-Wei or Karolina Muchova.

"I had to stop making errors. I made so many errors in the first two sets. I was just too many. You can't win tournaments making that many errors. I knew I had to play better, and I knew I could," Williams said.

"I want to be able to win matches where I'm not playing my best, play players who are playing great, be able to come through. I need to be tested, I guess."
"I'd rather not be tested in every match. But that doesn't happen, so it's important for me to have those, like, really rough, rowdy matches. That helps a lot."