Serena Williams begins US Open with a convincing singles win
After falling to Serena Williams at the start of the match, Venus Williams hit back by bouncing a forehand into the net and then served to take the 1-0 lead after 26 minutes.
The Australian No. 1 was on fire against her American rival, firing winners of 37, 42 and 25 points, while also recording a double-fault, which did not cost her.
In the second set, Williams took an early lead, and then extended that lead, before Venus came back with a couple of set points in the tiebreak, to take a 4-2 lead.
But Williams finally came up with a couple of game-breaking chances down the stretch, as she hit a forehand winning shot winner, to pull out a 6-5 victory for her second break of serve in the match.
“There were a lot of great shots today,” said Williams. “They were all different styles. They were right on the ball.”
Williams fell to 0-16 against Venus during finals play this year, and said she will be back at Fed Cup next year, although her US Open preparation has been limited this year.
“I haven’t seen a lot of the matches,” said Williams. “So I won’t know, I will just be playing the same thing over and over. They keep telling me I need to get the ball into the net more, so I will work on that.”
Williams also said she was looking forward to the return of the USTA-sanctioned matches, after she was forced to cancel three of her matches during the US Open.
“It was really hard,” said Williams. “I didn’t know who was playing, I didn’t know who I was playing with, so it was really tough. But the USTA’s been super supportive, so I’m going to be back on that (diamond) surface (at Wimbledon) and I’m excited to see what happens