Top seed Serena Williams showed no signs of shoulder troubles as she kicked-ff her US Open campaign with a convincing 6-3, 6-3, win over Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova in the first round.
The world No.1, who had previously lost to the Russian in a grand slam tournament, displayed no signs of weakness as she took the match without facing a break point. During her first round encounter, Williams produced 12 aces, 27 winners and 22 unforced errors to win her 85th match at Flushing Meadows.
“I knew today I needed to be focused because I’ve played her before.” Williams said about playing Makarova.
“She’s got to the semifinals (in the US Open). She goes deep in majors. She knows how to play big matches on big courts. She’s not intimidated. I knew I had to really come out today. It was my only option really.”
Williams has entered the final major of the year with an injury cloud over her head after recently missing a series of high-profile tournaments due to inflammation in her right shoulder. Addressing the issue, the American optimistically stated that she will have to wait and see how her body holds up.
“Usually it’s the day of.” Williams said about when she feels pain in her shoulder. “But as time has progressed, and this past week, it’s usually been the day after, so that’s a really positive thing.”
Despite the shoulder problem, the world No.1 has been working hard on other areas such as her movement to compensate for the injury.
”I couldn’t hit any balls. I wanted to stay fit, so … I guess that kind of helped me out a little bit,’‘ she said about her footwork.
Williams’ win on the Arthur Ashe stadium comes 12 months after she suffered heartbreak at the venue. Closing in her 22nd major title, the 34-year-old was stunned in the semifinals by Italy’s Roberta Vinci. Reflecting on her roller coaster 2015 US Open campaign, Williams has insisted that it was a positive experience.
”I had a great experience last year. I was going for something that no one has done in a really long time,” she replied when asked in her press conference. ”Yeah, it didn’t end out wonderful for me, or the way I wanted it to end, but it was all I could do. That’s all I could do. If I could make the semis this year, I’d be excited about that.”
Awaiting Williams in the second round will be American qualifier Vania King in what will be a repeat of their encounter at the tournament in 2014. On that occasion the top seed raced to a 6-1, 6-0, win.
