Serena Williams trounced old foe Maria Sharapova 6-1 6-1 in their blockbuster first round clash at the US Open on Monday to get her quest for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam title off to a flying start.
Williams, in her first US Open match since her infamous row with the chair umpire overshadowed her loss in last year’s final, used her trademark power to overwhelm Sharapova in the first New York meeting between two of the sport’s biggest names.
Eighth seed Williams showed no signs of the back spasms that forced her to retire in tears from the Toronto final two weeks ago and instead showcased some of her best on-court movement since returning from maternity leave in 2018.
Williams, who last faced Sharapova at the 2016 Australian Open, improved to 20-2 in career meetings against the Russian, who has fallen to 87th in the rankings amid an injury-hit 2019 season that included shoulder surgery in February.
Next up for Williams will be American wildcard Catherine McNally, who beat Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 6-4 6-1.
Joining Serena in the next round is 39-year-old older sister Venus, who beat Saisai Zheng 6-1 6-0 to remain undefeated in first-round matches in a record-tying 21st appearance at her home grand slam.
The 2000 and 2001 winner Williams will next meet fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina, after the lopsided affair on Monday in which she fired 25 winners to Zheng’s six.
Meanwhile former US Open champion Angelique Kerber crashed out, losing 7-5 0-6 6-4 to Kristina Mladenovic.
The 14th-seed Kerber lost in two hours and 24 minutes on the Grandstand court in New York as she fought back in vain from 2-0 down in the last set, drawing back to 3-3.
But her 54th-ranked French opponent wrapped up matters with two winners.
Three-time grand slam champion and former world No.1 Kerber is having a poor year and the German is also currently without a coach.
She reached the last 16 at the Australian Open in January but then crashed out in the first round at the French Open and second round at Wimbledon.
The latest disaster came in the wake of first-round defeats in Toronto and Cincinnati.
German women’s tennis head Barbara Rittner and national icon Boris Becker agreed on Eurosport that coming to New York without a coach after parting ways with Rainer Schuettler after Wimbledon was a massive mistake.
“She wouldn’t have lost the match with a coach,” Rittner insisted. And Becker said: “I cannot understand that she played here without a coach. All top 10 players have a coach at their side.”
Kerber would have none of it though.
“I won’t be pressured by anyone. They key to defeat was not that I have no coach,” she insisted, also saying “I don’t know yet” when asked whether she will get a new coach.
Another to tumble was No.27 seed Caroline Garcia, who bowed out with a 7-6 (10-8) 6-2 loss to Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur.
Women’s third seed and former finalist Karolina Pliskova dropped her first three service games and blew a double break 3-0 lead in the second before prevailing 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-3) in a tight first-round duel against 138th-ranked fellow Czech Tereza Martincova.
Eugenie Bouchard, a former Wimbledon finalist and top-10 player, lost her 11th straight tour match to last year’s semi-finalist Anastasija Sevastova 6-3 6-3.
