French Open: Williams sisters slip into cruise mode

Paris: Serena and Venus Williams edged closer to a third round sister showdown at the French Open which began here on Sunday. Women’s top seed Serena Williams, who won the 2013 title to add to her 2002 maiden triumph in the French capital, started her 13th Roland Garros with a 6-2, 6-1 win over French wildcard Alize Lim.

Three days after the close friends were snapping ‘selfies’ of themselves at the players’ party at the Eiffel Tower, Serena fired 37 winners past Lim, the world 138, although a sloppy final game left her relying on a fifth match point to seal victory. The win extended Serena’s record in opening rounds of the majors to 54-1 — her only blip being a first round exit to Virginie Razzano in Paris three years ago.

Serena will face either compatriot Grace Min or Spain’s Gabrine Muguruza for a place in the third round where she could then play big sister Venus. Venus, the 29th seed and 2002 runner-up, began her campaign with a 6-4, 6-1 win against Swiss 17-year-old Belinda Bencic who was two and a half years from being born when the American made her professional debut back in 1994. “I think she has a great attitude, and it will take her a long way. Just doing everything better, serving, returning, just more experience helps a lot,” said 33-year-old Venus who is playing in her 17th French Open. Venus next faces Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia.

In other matches, Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska carved out a 6-3, 6-0 win over China’s Zhang Shuai, the world number 34. Radwanska, sporting a vivid, floral-print dress, made heavy work of seeing off Zhang who has now lost all of her four first round matches at Roland Garros. The first seven games all went against serve until the Pole held for 5-3. But she then swept through the final set in just 21 minutes.

The Results
Women’s singles 1st round: Agnieszka Radwanska bt Shuai Zhang 6-3, 6-0, Daniela Hantuchova bt Jovana Jaksic 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, Serena Williams bt Aliz Lim 6-2, 6-1, Anna Karolna Schmiedlov bt Jie Zheng 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-4, Venus Williams bt Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-1, Carla Surez Navarro bt Yulia Beygelzimer 7-5, 7-5, Claire Feuerstein bt Olga Govortsova 6-1, 7-5.