{blackbabes} Serena Williams wins comeback match despite distraction of coughing daughter

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Serena Williams juggled playing and parenting during her win at the Top Seed Open on Tuesday.

The 23-time major champion recovered from a set down to defeat fellow American Bernarda Pera at the Kentucky tournament, the WTA's first since coronavirus disrupted the tennis calendar.

Williams was down 4-6, 4-4 and facing three break points at 0-40 when she launched her comeback, in her first competitive match in six months. The rustiness she displayed in the first half of the contest was replaced by an impressive will to win, but she revealed afterwards that she was temporarily distracted when she heard daughter Alexis Olympia cough from the sidelines.

"I think I heard her cough, I know my baby's cough," Williams said in her post-match press conference, about her two-year-old, who was watching on with Williams's husband Alexis Ohanian Snr. "She was drinking, and she was eating grapes. And I'm then like, oh my gosh is she chewing? Make sure you chew.

"I'm thinking, 'OK Serena stop looking over there'. So I didn't look over there but I kind of flashed my husband a look like, make sure she's chewing her grapes because she shouldn't be coughing while she's eating grapes. That's the new mom in me and it's good."

Relatable parenting moment aside, Williams reflected on the win as a significant moment and a testing return to the court. "I haven't played for so long, even matches and practice matches I haven't played, I've just been training," the 38-year-old said.

"It was really good for me ... to win a match that was three sets. Honestly, I knew I've been practising really well and I wasn't getting a good rhythm out here, and I just kept thinking: 'Serena, play like you've been practising. So I knew that I could play a little bit better if I just hung in there."

Williams will next face sister Venus on Thursday in the second round of the tournament, after the elder sister defeated Viktoria Azarenka in straight sets on Tuesday. It will be the siblings' 31st meeting on the tour.

The inaugural Kentucky tournament is being hosted as a warm-up to the US Open, which is set to begin on August 31. Williams has committed to playing at both her home major and the rescheduled French Open in September, in her latest attempts to tie the all-time grand slam singles record of 24, held by Australia's Margaret Court.