Venus Williams has set up a showdown with sister Serena at the Italian Open after coming through an epic three-set battle with Elise Mertens in Rome.
Venus, who won her only Rome title 20 years ago, defeated Elise Mertens 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-4) after more than three hours and requiring nine match points before eliminating her Belgian opponent.
Serena had earlier looked sharper than in her last match in March as she opened her clay-court season with a routine 6-4 6-2 win over Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson, who had put out Australia’s Samantha Stosur in qualifying the previous day.
Serena was back in action in only her fourth tournament of the season and the first since being forced to withdraw from the Miami Open in March due to a knee injury.
The 37-year-old American fell behind 3-1 but recovered with a string of powerful groundstrokes from the baseline, clinching five of the next six games for the opening set.
Peterson, the world No.64, dug deep to grab two break points in the final game of the match but Williams saved both, before wrapping up the win in an hour and 15 minutes.
The Williams sisters’ last match on red clay came in the 2002 French Open final, won by Serena, while in their last match in Rome, Venus won their second career meeting way back in the 1998 quarter-finals.
“That’s crazy,” Serena said. “I vaguely remember that.. We play each other a lot. Seems like every tournament nowadays we meet early.”
Serena leads the career series against 38-year-old Venus 18-12.
Australian No.2 Ajla Tomljanovic booked her place in round two after a straight-sets win over Slovenian Tamara Zidansek.
Tomljanovic battled through 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 to set up a meeting with fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.
Australian No.1 Ashleigh Barty has received a first-round bye and will face Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova, who saw off Italian wildcard Sara Errani 6-1 6-0.
Barty’s match on Tuesday immediately precedes Tomljanovic’s clash on Grandstand Court.
Britain’s Johanna Konta will play Sloane Stephens after a straight-sets win over another American Alison Riske.
And after an opening round exit at the Madrid Open last week, former world No.1 Garbine Muguruza scored her first win in over a month as she eased past China’s Zheng Saisai 6-3 6-4.