Serena Williams cruised her way through into the second round of the French Open with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Czech Republic opponent, Andrea Hlavackova earlier this evening. Despite fears she could struggle following her elbow injury a few weeks ago, the World number one showed no signs of fear as she comprehensively defeated the 28-year-old. 

Serena's pace and sheer power was all too much for her first opponent in the Grand Slam, as the 33-year-old American was fairly dominant without properly hitting top gear, especially early on. The first set lasted just 27 minutes, and Serena showed no signs of mercy as she sealed a neat victory within the hour mark at Roland Garros. Hlavackova made the World number one work for the victory in the second set though, making a few neat returns to which Williams had simply no answer.

The epitomy of this? A superb strike in the third game of the second set, where Serena used her powerful serve to good use, forcing Hlavackova to adjust her stance and move towards the baseline in order to return. It looked as though she'd virtually won the point, and a sweetly-struck drop shot made the Czech woman sprint towards the net. Out of nowhere, Hlavackova popped a world-class return, swerving the ball past Serena who was static in the middle of the court, and could only watch on in disbelief as the ball floated behind her, and hit the open side behind her. Williams applauded, a nice show of sportsmanship, and if only her opponent wasn't facing her so early on in the competition, the quality of shots she was returning (in parts of the match, I must stress) on its own would have warranted a place in the third round, at least. 

Serena will face either Alexa Glatch (USA) or Anna-Lena Friedsam (Germany) in the next round. 


ELSEWHERE in the women's side of the tournament, Canadian sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard continued her disappointing rn of form, crashing out in the first round of the competition at the hands of France's Kristina Mladenovic with a score of 6-4, 6-4. The result will no doubt have a negative impact on her place in the world rankings, where she has faltered in 2015. Mladenovic stated: "To get past the first round in these conditions, it's magnificent."

Meanwhile, last year's Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova had a hard-fought battle on her hands, but she eventually did well to grind out a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over New Zealand's Marina Erakovic. The 25-year-old had this to say, after her match: "I have to say the conditions weren't really easy for me. I think it was quite cold and the balls are really heavy, and they didn't really fly. It was very difficult today. It was quite a long match, big fight. Sometimes I couldn't win my serve; so it was a little bit difficult. But that's how it is in the first round of Grand Slams. I'm just glad I'm still in and still playing.

quotes' source: Sky Sports

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Mosope Ominiyi
Writer and editor - European football analyst, youth enthusiast. Email: [email protected]