Serena rebounds with first-round win in Cincinnati

Serena Williams dropped just three games in a resounding return to the courts in Cincinnati on Monday night.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion cruised to a 6-1 6-2 victory over Daria Gavrilova in just 65 minutes, a win that sets up a blockbuster second-round meeting with No.8 seed Petra Kvitova.

Such is the depth of the @WTA right now that half these players are UNSEEDED.

You’re favourite upcoming match at #CincyTennis – go.

— Tennismash (@tennismash) August 14, 2018

The last time we saw Serena on court was when she suffered an unsightly 6-1 6-0 loss to Johanna Konta in San Jose, making it the heaviest defeat of her professional career.

She then pulled out of last week’s WTA event in Montreal, citing personal reasons, and later saying in an Instagram post that she “felt like I was not a good mom”.

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Speaking after Monday’s match in Cincinnati, Williams said: “I’ve been through a lot of stuff in my life but I’ve never been through this; having a baby and dealing with the emotions, and the ups and downs and the fears. And the excitement, quite frankly.

“I just love talking about it because I feel like a lot of people have those same emotions and they don’t have the same platform that I have. And mostly I want women out there to know that if I’m going through it, and I know you’re going through it, then we’re in this together.

“Everyone, no matter who we are, always has the same feelings.”

Williams gave birth to daughter Olympia last September and returned to tennis in March, going on to reach the Wimbledon final last month, and the 36-year-old is still learning to juggle motherhood and tennis.

“It can be overwhelming and I tend to be a perfectionist, and I like to do things at a standard that is maybe unrealistic, and that includes being a mum,” she added.

“It’s hard. Every day is a struggle for me just in terms of being regular and letting go and realising that I’m not going to be a perfectionist at this.

“I’m going to make mistakes and that’s OK, because everyone makes mistakes. It’s still something that I’m learning.”

As soon as she stepped onto Cincinnati’s centre court, Williams was on fire, moving well, reacting quickly and playing with controlled aggression.

She opened up a 3-0 lead and did not let up, steamrolling through the first set and moving ahead 4-2 in the second.

Gavrilova, the world No.23, made the later stages of the second set competitive. In a tight seventh game, she saved two break points and held three game points, which had she converted would have tightened the game score to 3-4.

14 winners, 4 errors.@serenawilliams is in the zone, taking the opening set, 6-1! #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/72OV56NIzt

— WTA (@WTA) August 13, 2018

Yet double faults, which have plagued her all season, emerged. She hit her sixth and seventh – the latter on Serena’s third break point – to surrender the game.

Williams closed out the match in the next game, finishing with 27 winners to just 14 errors and winning almost 90 per cent of her first-serve points. She also won nine of her 13 trips to the net.

Kvitova received a first-round bye in Cincinnati and takes a lopsided 1-5 record into the match against Williams. She did, however, win their most recent meeting in Madrid in 2015.

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In other results on Monday, Victoria Azarenka got past Carla Suarez Navarro in three sets while 13th seed Madison Keys did the same against Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Aryna Sabalenka came from behind to oust Konta 4-6 6-3 6-4.

And in a late-night match, 11th seed Jelena Ostapenko – last year’s champion at Roland Garros – streaked through the first set before slumping to a 1-6 7-5 6-0 loss to qualifier Alize Cornet.

Azarenka set up a second-round meeting with No.6 Garcia thanks to a 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 triumph over Suarez Navarro, a former world No.6.

Azarenka, currently ranked 87th, required a wildcard to enter the Cincinnati tournament.

Way to fight, @vika7!

Azarenka comes back 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 to defeat Suarez Navarro @CincyTennis. pic.twitter.com/dgqhXaszxr

— WTA (@WTA) August 13, 2018

“I feel like it was a lots of ups and downs,” Azarenka said when assessing her latest victory. “It was a good fight, there were moments of real high-quality tennis. Some moments, I was making a little bit too many mistakes on first or second shots, but I felt that [Suárez Navarro] played well.

“[Garcia’s] a very powerful player, big forehand and takes the ball early. I’ve practiced against her a couple of times. She’s a very good player.

“For me, right now, it doesn’t really matter who’s on the other side.”

Sabalenka’s win over Konta sets up a second-round meeting with either ninth seed Karolina Pliskova or former world No.2 Agnieska Radwanska, while Svetlana Kuznetsova – another former top player requiring a wildcard entry – beat qualfier Stefanie Voegele in a third-set tiebreak.

Her reward is a second-round meeting with fifth seed Elina Svitolina.

Also moving through to the second round were Anett Kontaveit, Kristina Mladenovic, Lesia Tsurenko and Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic, who next faces Simona Halep.