MELBOURNE, Australia – World No.2 Serena Williams kicked off her quest for a seventh Australian Open crown with a decisive 6-4, 6-3 victory over Belinda Bencic to ease into the second round.
«I think it was pretty good,» Serena said of the match in her post-match press conference. I mean, she’s a really good player. So I think I was able to start out well.»
Serena came to Melbourne with an outside shot of reclaiming the No.1 ranking from defending champion Angelique Kerber – the American must reach the final to remain in contention – but first had to take care of Bencic, a former World No.7 who had beaten her in their last encounter at the 2015 Rogers Cup.
Up next for the six-time Australian Open champion is another former rival in Lucie Safarova, who saved a whopping nine match points to defeat Yanina Wickmayer, 3-6, 7-6(9), 6-1 to book a rematch of the 2015 French Open final.
La numero 2 del Mundo, Serena Williams no tuvo piedad con su primer oponente en busqueda de su séptimo abierto de Australiana, Belinda Bencic a la que supero con parciales de 6-4 y 6-3, avanzando a la segunda ronda del primer Gran Slam de temporada.
Serena llega a Melbourne procurando recuperar su condicion de numero uno que posee la campeona defensora la Alemana Angelique Kerber, para eso debe avanzar hasta la final del torneo, pero primera debia sacar del camino a Bencic, una exnumero 7 del mundo que la habia vencido en la Copa Rogers en el 2015.
Ahora Serena debera enfrentar en la sguiente ronda a Lucia Safarova, quien tuvo que superar 9 puntos de partido par aimponerse a Yanina Wickmayer en tres sets con parciales de 3-6, 7-6 y 6-1, en lo que sera una revancha de la final del abierto de francia del 2015.