Serena Williams sailed through her first-round match at the US Open, showing no signs of the shoulder injury that derailed her quest for Olympic gold in Rio — but she revealed her ailment played some part in her eye-catching new outfit.
The top-seeded American eased to a 6-3 6-3 victory over Russian Ekaterina Makarova Tuesday at the Arthur Ashe Stadium as she bids for an Open-Era record 23rd grand slam singles title.
Williams hit 12 aces during the match but admitted that she was aiming for placement rather than power.
“I didn’t hit my serves as hard as I normally hit them,” the world No. 1, who next faces compatriot Vania King, told reporters. “I just went for more placement. I didn’t go for the big 120s, just the regular.
“I was pleased with my serve because I haven’t been hitting a lot of serves at all. In practice, none of them were going in, so I was definitely excited about that.”
The 34-year-old was sporting a black and pink outfit, accessorized with black sleeves, which one Twitter user likened to a superhero outfit.
“It is functional, so I think that helps me, especially with my shoulder problems that I’ve been having,” she said.
“We wanted to focus on the colors. So keep the color black. But there’s lots of pink pops throughout the dress. It’s definitely functional. There’s definitely things in there to keep my muscles warm.”
Sister Venus had a tougher time on court, Tuesday. Her Ukrainian opponent Kateryna Kozlova, ranked 93 in the world, made the two-time winner champion with many long rallies in a match that lasted nearly three hours.
But the 36-year-old Williams eventually prevailed, winning the game 6-2 5-7 6-4 to join her sister in the second round.
“I didn’t know much about her game at all, literally zero, and it’s hard,” Williams said.
“I definitely had a lot more errors than I wanted. If I could cut those in half, it’s definitely a different story.”
Elsewhere in the women’s competition, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard crashed out of the tournament, losing 6-3 3-6 6-2 to Czech Katerina Siniakova, ranked 72 in the world.
Murray and Del Potro progress
Fresh from his triumph at the Rio Olympics and his second Wimbledon title, Andy Murray started his challenge to prevent top seed Novak Djokovic winning back-to-back US Open victories.
The Scot dispatched Czech player Lukas Rosol 6-3 6-2 6-2 and will now face Spain’s Marcel Granollers.
“He came out going for his shots,” Murray, who won his first grand slam in New York in 2012, told reporters.
“I got through that tricky period right at the start where he’s hitting the ball really well, kind of adjusting to the conditions.
“Once I got through that, I settled down and played I think a really good match,” he said.
Former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, who Murray beat in the Olympic final, is also safely through. The Argentine has been plagued by wrist injuries in recent months, but was a straight sets winner 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-3) over compatriot Diego Schwartzman.
Other top seeds from both draws — Stan Wawrinka (ranked three), Kei Nishikori (6), Agnieszka Radwanska (4), Simona Halep (5) — all progressed on a sweltering second day where temperatures topped 30?C.
Day three highlights
There’s more big-name action Wednesday with defending champion Novak Djokovic facing Czech Jiri Vesely — the 23-year-old beat the Serb in the second round of the Monte Carlo tournament earlier this year.
And Djokovic has recently struggled for form. He went out early at Wimbledon to Sam Querrey and was left in tears in Rio after losing to Juan Martin del Potro in the first round.
Djokovic had to call for a trainer in the first set of his opening match in New York and admitted ahead of the season’s final grand slam that his injured wrist was not fully healed.
In contrast, third seed Rafael Nadal will look to continue his return to fitness and form when he takes on Italian Andreas Seppi.
Canadian Milos Raonic is matched against American Ryan Harrison, while in the women’s competition, Wimbledon and Rio finalist Angelique Kerber will play Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
