NEW YORK -- Venus Williams has been more regular than the No. 7 train at the National Tennis Center.

In 10 previous runs through the U.S. Open draw, going all the way back to 1997 when she was a 17-year-old finalist, Venus has always -- without fail -- reached the second week.

On Monday night, she almost didn't make it to the second round.

Down a set and 1-3 in the second to 22-year-old Russian Vera Dushevina, Williams fairly heroically overcame a knee injury and her own rarely exposed nerves. Ripping off a meaty chunk of seven straight games, she eventually survived 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3.

The match, with all its bubbling drama, oozed on for 2 hours, 43 minutes and pushed the start of Andy Roddick's match with Bjorn Phau past 11 p.m.

When it finally ended, Venus' smile flashed wide, but her eyes looked tired and her celebration waves to the crowd were muted.

Al Bello/Getty Images

Venus Williams was perilously close to losing in the first round of a Grand Slam for the first time since 2006.

"I had a lot of help from my box and the fans here," Williams said afterward in an on-court interview. "I felt so much energy from the fans when I was serving to stay in the match in the second set."

And what about that knee that caused her to limp from time to time?

"I'm not one to complain," she said. "Everyone has injuries to deal with."

What would her treatment entail, analyst Pam Shriver asked.

"A lot of prayer," Williams said, saying it again for emphasis. "Everything I can throw at it.

"But I'm tough."

It seemed appropriate that Williams finished the match with 53 winners and 54 unforced errors.

Unseeded wild card Kim Clijsters, who dropped only two games in her first-round match, looms as a possible opponent in the fourth round. In light of Williams' knee injury, Venus fans should be concerned. Very concerned.

Venus has won eight major titles, including two U.S. Opens; the best Dushevina had ever done was the fourth round at the Australian Open. Venus has won 41 tournament titles, more than any other active woman; Dushevina won her first this year in Istanbul.

For Dushevina, it would have been the biggest win of her career. In retrospect, it is not surprising that her record against top-10 players is 1-26.

The first set was an epic unto itself. It required a wrenching 1 hour, 16 minutes, featured two visits from the trainer, six breaks of serve and four (count them, four) foot faults by Williams.

It all began with an apparent injury to Williams' left knee. Sixteen minutes into the match, with Dushevina leading 2-1, Williams called for the trainer, who immediately began to manipulate her left kneecap. It was the same knee that, visited by patella tendinitis, was wrapped heavily in her final matches at Wimbledon.

During the match, World Team Tennis founder Billie Jean King said that Venus had told her the knee was still giving her trouble this summer. Williams had it wrapped tightly by the trainer and lurched uncertainly into the rest of the opening set.

It ended in a crazy tiebreaker. Williams seemed to have it under control, serving one straight at the stomach of Dushevina, who could only barely get a racket on it. That would have given Williams a set point at 6-3, but a foot fault had been called -- at the time, the fourth of the match.

That sent Williams, already distracted, into a deeper funk. Leading only 5-4 now, she dumped a 64 mph serve into the net and, when her forehand went haywire, proceeded to lose the last four points of the extra frame. It was an amazing turn of events, and the fulcrum was that poorly timed foot fault.

In the second set, down a break at 1-3, Williams seemed to make a conscious decision to go down swinging. The intensity of her groundstrokes picked up, as did her increasingly audible accompaniment. Dushevina was not overly impressed. She fought hard in the ninth game and found herself four points from the match.

Williams held with a forceful game, and it was 5-all. She broke Dushevina's serve, violently, converting a third break point with a backhand winner. Serving for the set, Venus unleashed some of her best serves of the match and won the game at love.

After winning the first four games of the third set, Venus promptly lost the next two.

Williams came into the match having endured a miserable summer; she had lost three of her last four matches on hard courts. This victory will do little to change her recent karma.

Five things we learned on Day 1

1. The Open is hot out of the box: About dinnertime Monday, people were standing four and five deep outside Practice Court No. 5 in the shadow of Arthur Ashe Stadium. Tennis fans were clamoring for a glimpse of Andy Roddick, who was loosening up for his night match -- two courts over.

Meanwhile, Louis Armstrong Stadium was jammed with patrons watching James Blake dismantle Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. Next door, a stout crowd on the Grandstand watched Lleyton Hewitt handle Thiago Alves. At the same time, the grounds of the National Tennis Center were swollen with customers.

Officially, it was a record opening day crowd of 36,085 -- nearly 600 better than the mark established last year.

2. Flavia of the Month: Italy's Flavia Pennetta is en fuego.

She became the first Italian woman to crack the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour top 10 earlier this month. On Monday, she advanced to the second round with a defeat of Edina Gallovits. The champion in Palermo and Los Angeles has won 17 of her past 19 matches.

3. Andre Agassi knows how to work the crowd: "Hello, New York," Agassi told the night crowd at Arthur Ashe. "I've missed you."

And, certainly, based on the warm ovation he received, New York has missed Agassi since he lost in the third round here in 2006. He was on hand for a USTA celebration of athletes who give back that included Mia Hamm, David Robinson and Doug Flutie.

"A blast from the past -- sensory overload," Agassi, wearing a snappy suit, said when he met the media later.

Agassi and his wife, Steffi Graf, have created a successful academy for underprivileged children in Las Vegas, but he said he received a cursory education at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida.

"Eight grade," Agassi said, pausing for effect, "was the best three years of my life."

4. Venus had better be ready: Kim Clijsters blew Viktoriya Kutuzova off the court, 6-1, 6-1 in her first-round match. Retirement, what retirement? Clijsters and Venus Williams are on course to meet in the fourth round.

5. Gallovits has some serious work to do: After she qualified her way into the main draw at New Haven, Conn., Edina Gallovits was dusted by eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki 6-0, 6-0. In the first set of her first-round match with Pennetta, the Romanian lost 6-0 again.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a rare triple-bagel performance. Most appropriate in New York.

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.