AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva won the first set off of American world No. 1 Serena Williams at this year's French Open but could not prevent the top seed from rallying for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 victory in Thursday's quarterfinals, according to Fox News.

The 60th-ranked Putintseva, who was making her first appearance in the final eight of a Grand Slam event, had the three-time Roland Garros champion on the ropes in the early going but lost her grip on the contest when Serena began minimizing her unforced errors.

In the first set, Williams committed 24 unforced errors to Putintseva's two, but the American then narrowed that gap to 13 to 8 in the second.

Each player made six unforced errors in the third set, when Williams seized full control by dominating her first-serve points and Putintseva's second-serve points.

Putintseva had become just the second Kazakh player – after Yaroslava Shvedova, a French Open quarterfinalist in 2010 and 2012 – to reach the final eight at Roland Garros.