Williams survives scare at Sydney International

SYDNEY (Reuters) - American Serena Williams saved four match points before clawing her way back to beat Australia's Samantha Stosur 6-3 6-7 7-5 in the opening round of the Sydney International on Sunday.

Williams, playing her first match this year after recovering from a hamstring injury, looked to be heading toward a shock defeat when she failed to serve out the match in the second set then trailed 5-4 in the third.

Stosur had four match points on her own serve in the deciding set but failed to convert any of her chances as the world number two demonstrated her great fighting qualities to win the last three games on the trot and seal victory.

Williams, who looked rusty in her first match, said she had allowed her concentration to be broken by an umpire's call that went against her.

"I probably shouldn't have allowed it to disrupt my game but it was a little frustrating," she told a news conference.

"I felt like I wouldn't have been out there that much longer and I was that close to the finish line.

"Maybe if I had finished sooner I wouldn't have had to deal with that."

Stosur, ranked 46 in the world, broke Williams' serve five times during the match but was left lamenting her own errors after twice-double faulting then missing a straightforward volley on her own match points.

"Obviously I was nervous," she said. "I'm going up there trying to serve and I felt I was shaking and all sorts of things are going through your mind.

"I guess at the end of the day that's when you've got to compose yourself. I actually thought I did that pretty well. I didn't feel like I rushed through those points or anything like that."

Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova also survived a scare on Sunday before booking her place in the second round of the Australian Open warmup event with a 3-6 6-1 6-3 win over China's Peng Shuai.

Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, the sixth seed, had a much easier time in disposing of Austria's Sybille Bammer 6-4 6-3.

(Reporting by Julian Linden. Editing by Nick Mulvenney)