Serena Williams’ comeback to top-tier tennis continued on Monday, with the first day of the US Open. Williams, the 17th seed, took down the unseeded Magda Linette in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0.
Serena Williams into second round of US Open after dominant win
Williams looked as good as she has since returning from the birth of her child.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
The match was close to start, with Linette keeping games close and looking good for the most part, but she simply couldn’t keep up with Williams in the end. Williams will go on to the second round, where she’ll face Carina Witthoeft. Caroline Dolehide was Witthoeft’s first-round opponent, but Witthoeft won in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6(6).
Monday’s match was the first time Williams Linette, 26, have faced each other.
With the first set tied at 3-3, Williams broke Linette on her second try and then held serve (Linette made her work for it, getting to deuce but not to advantage) to go up 5-3 in the match. Linette held, but Williams held serve to take the set. She had three aces, won 73 percent of her first serves and 77 percent of her second serves in the opening set. She also had 13 unforced errors.
In the second, Williams hit her stride and it was nearly impossible for Linette, who again was playing some of her best tennis, to keep up. Williams broke her in every attempt and finished the set at 6-0.
Williams returned to competitive play earlier this year following the birth of her child, and the health complications that surfaced as a result. She’s had a couple poor matches, but by and large has looked good, if a little more inconsistent than she has in the past.
She made it to the fourth round of Roland Garros before having to retire from the tournament, but made it to the final of Wimbledon in July, losing to Angelique Kerber. She bested Daria Gavrilova in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters prior to this tournament, losing to the very tough Petra Kvitova in a three-set second-round match.
Serena’s sister, Venus Williams, made it past her first-round opponent at the US Open on Monday, besting Svetlana Kuznetsova in a hard-fought three-setter, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Serena and Venus were drawn into the same portion of the singles draw, and could face each other in the third round.
Venus will be taking on Camila Giorgi in her second-round matchup.
For full schedule and results of the men’s singles draw, go here. The women’s draw can be found here.
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