• In the men’s category, six-time champion Roger Federer bagged a comfortable straight-sets win over Steve Johnson.
• Eighth seed Williams, who won her first WTA title in three years in the run-up to the opening Grand Slam of the year, will play Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek next.
Image: /REUTERS
Serena Williams underlined why she is the Australian Open favourite with a rapid first-round win, while defending champion Naomi Osaka also advanced.
Williams, chasing a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title, took the first set in 19 minutes in a 6-0 6-3 victory over Anastasia Potapova.
Third seed Osaka started slowly against Marie Bouzkova, before winning 6-2 6-4.
In the men’s category, six-time champion Roger Federer bagged a comfortable straight-sets win over Steve Johnson.
The Swiss, 38, beat the American 6-3 6-2 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.
While Williams claimed a convincing victory over her Russian opponent in just 58 minutes, there was an even faster win for seventh seed Petra Kvitova, with the 2019 runner-up demolishing fellow Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-1 6-0 in 51 minutes.
The tournament started as scheduled yesterday after air quality improved in Melbourne, although some matches were later interrupted by rain. Last week’s qualifying event had been disrupted by delays because of the air pollution caused by widespread bushfires.
Williams, who had a pulmonary embolism after giving birth in 2017, said she had been concerned about what conditions might be like during her match.
“That is still a concern for pretty much everyone. Every day all the players and the tournament make sure that all the players are updated on what the play conditions would be like,” said the American. “It’s literally every day, we are just waiting every day to see how the air quality would be. Today, it seemed normal. Yeah, it seemed pretty good.”
Eighth seed Williams, who won her first WTA title in three years in the run-up to the opening Grand Slam of the year, will play Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek next.
The 38-year-old was made to work harder in the second set by 18-year-old Potapova, who broke in the third game of the second set after a double-fault by Williams. But Williams immediately broke back and pulled away to victory.
Osaka, who broke the net with one of her serves against Czech Bouzkova, will play China’s Zheng Saisai in the second round. While the Japanese 22-year-old was happy to get through to the next round, she was less impressed with one comment she had read on social media — and decided to reply.
One user had posted ‘Boooooooo — Don’t want her to win — Hate her interviews — Not Cute — Annoying’ on the event’s official Twitter page, with Osaka later replying: “Are you big mad or little mad?” She later told reporters she could not understand why someone would jeer her like that.
“She was hating. What would her children think? You’re just going to come on the internet and boo me for no reason? I didn’t do anything to you,” Osaka said. “She was very upset. I also wonder, people like this, if they see you in person, I wonder what they would do?”
Former champion Caroline Wozniacki got her final tournament before retirement off to a good start with a 6-1 6-3 victory over American Kristie Ahn.
Other winners on day one were Croatian 13th seed Petra Martic, who beat American Christina McHale 6-3 6-0 to set up an encounter with 2018 Wimbledon semi-finalist Julia Goerges of Germany, and American 14th seed Sofia Kenin.
But last year’s Czech Wimbledon semi-finalist Barbora Strycova was beaten 6-2 7-6 (7-5) by Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.