Reuters
New York, August 31: World No.1 Serena Williams opened her US Open account with a tidy 6-3, 6-3 win over Ekaterina Makarova here Tuesday, to join her sister Venus in the second round of the year’s final Grand Slam.
Serena, whose status as World No.1 is under attack from several fronts, delivered a message that she will not be surrendering the top spot without a fight, needing just 63 minutes to dispatch the 29th-ranked Russian.
Sixth-seeded Venus had provided the opening act for sister Serena when she outlasted Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 before turning over the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to her top-seeded sibling.
As always at the US Open, what the World No.1 was wearing attracted as much attention as her performance. Serena sported a black tennis dress with cutouts revealing her muscular shoulders.
“It’s a part of the design and I am enjoying it,” explained Serena. “It’s just the latest and greatest accessory. “It also is functional, so I think that helps me, especially with my shoulder problems that I’ve been having.”
Serena will next play American wild card Vania King, a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 winner over Germany qualifier Antonia Lottner.
Meanwhile Eugenie Bouchard slumped to a first round defeat Tuesday but the Canadian might yet leave Flushing Meadows a big winner with her lawsuit against the Grand Slam and United States Tennis Association still to hit the courts.
She had sued the organisers after she slipped on a wet locker room floor after a mixed doubles match, sustaining a concussion that forced her to withdraw from her fourth round singles contest. The 22-year-old Canadian, once ranked fifth in the world, has since filed a lawsuit against the US Open and the USTA.
Bouchard however, had no one to blame but herself for her first-round stumble as she was tripped up 3-6, 6-3, 2-6 by 20-year-old Czech Katerina Siniakova, who registered a first ever win at the US Open.
