Serena survives scare to beat McHale in three-set thriller

Serena Williams composed herself after a first-set loss and a burst of anger to vanquish tenacious fellow American Christina McHale 6-7(7) 6-2 6-4 in a nail-biting second-round match at Wimbledon on Friday.

The defending champion finally ran out a winner against the world number 65, marching on in her quest to emulate Steffi Graf`s Open era record of 22 grand slam singles titles.

Williams thought she had won the first set and was walking back to her chair after a McHale forehand was called long with the world number one 5-4 and 40-30 up. To her chagrin, however, a Hawkeye challenge showed the ball brushing the baseline.

McHale went on to win the game and force a tiebreak in which a rattled Williams made a string of errors, including two double faults, before burying a forehand into the net to lose the set.

Furious as she sat down, she hammered her racket into the ground in frustration before hurling it behind her.

But the 34-year-old put the disappointment behind her and showed the battling form that has won her six Wimbledon crowns to take the next two sets, closing out the two-and-a-half hour match with three aces.