Don’t expect Kerber-Williams rematch at Australian Open: Bartoli

Serena Williams was opening her bid for a record 23rd Grand Slam title with a first-round match against Belinda Bencic in the second match on Rod Laver Arena.

The American, with a record 23rd major title in her sights and watched by her new fiance, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, thumped unsafe Swiss teen Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-3.

“She was just recently in the top 10 so I knew it would be one of the toughest first-round matches I’ve ever played”, Williams said afterwards.

Following her victory, her very positive state of mind was clear as she responded in a jovial manner to a fan shouting at her during her post-match interview and she was also asked about her recent engagement.

“I guess it feels good”, she said of the forthcoming nuptials.

William’s greatness was not to be denied however, as she regained her composure and fought back accordingly to progress to the next stage of the competition, her next opponent in the form of Czech Lucie Safarova.

Williams went into the tournament having lost in the second round at this month’s Auckland Classic but looked confident and composed against Bencic.

The nerves returned when Kerber was serving for the match, however, and the world number one angled a backhand into the net on her single match point before her Ukrainian opponent broke back for 5-5. She finished her 2016 after the U.S. Open, resting injuries, and started 2017 with an error-prone loss in New Zealand. “Every match, every point, I’m playing for fun”, Williams said. Since then, Blinkova has won her first match on the WTA Tour and now features in her first Women’s Grand Slam at this year’s Australian Open. While younger players like Bencic and Madison Keys are forced to skip majors due to injury, Serena always has herself ready for the tournaments that matter to her.

They played twice previously and Bencic won the last meeting, a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 semifinal upset at the 2015 Toronto tournament. “It’s a dream”, Konta said.

There were also wins for Timea Bacsinszky, Caroline Garcia, Caroline Wozniacki, Ekaterina Makarova, Alize Cornet and Yulia Putintseva. He will meet Gilles Muller of Luxembourg next; Muller knocked off American Taylor Fritz 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Last year, current world number one Angelique Kerber and world number two Serena Williams met in two of the four Grand Slam finals – Australia and Wimbledon, with Kerber winning the former and Williams the latter.

Britain’s Kyle Edmund beats Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo 6-2 7-5 6-3 to reach the second round.

Australian Nick Kyrgios did little wrong against Gastao Elias, beating the Portuguese 6-1 6-2 6-2 in an hour and 25 minutes in the first round.

Halep is rated as one of the fastest players on the circuit, but her usual zip was glaringly absent as she went down 6-3, 6-1 to the American rising star Shelby Rogers. Two of those matches have come at the Australian Open, although it wasn’t until the third round.

Both reached the top of the rankings for the first time near the end of 2016, ending long reigns by Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams. For me the most important thing was to run straight over to him.