Tennis
Venus finds her groove
2012-08-28 23:17
New York - Venus Williams clocked the fastest women's serve of the US Open in overpowering Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3 6-1 in the first round at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday.
Williams withdrew from the US Open last year shortly before her second-round match against Sabine Lisicki and revealed she had Sjogren's syndrome.
After a long and difficult battle to control the autoimmune disease, she is back in the second round but has a tough assignment against the sixth-seed Angelique Kerber from Germany.
Williams lost the first two games to Mattek-Sands before showing glimpses of the form that has earned her seven major titles.
She landed a first serve of 124 mph (199.5km/h) - the quickest of the women's tournament to date.
Latest results on Tuesday from the second day of the US Open tennis championships at Flushing Meadows (x denotes seeding):
Men
First round
Tomas Berdych (CZE x6) bt David Goffin (BEL) 7-5, 6-3, 6-3
Jimmy Wang (TPE) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (8/10), 6-1, 6-4
Nicolas Almagro (ESP x11) bt Radek Stepanek (CZE) 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4
Milos Raonic (CAN x15) bt Santiago Giraldo (COL) 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x5) bt Karol Beck (SVK) 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (7/2)
Steve Darcis (BEL) bt Malek Jaziri (TUN) 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1
Pablo Andujar (ESP) bt Tomaz Bellucci (BRA) 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 7-5
Andy Roddick (USA x20) bt Rhyne Williams (USA) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Philipp Petzschner (GER) bt Nicolas Mahut (FRA) bt 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3)
Women
First round
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x2) bt Nina Bratchikova (RUS) 6-1, 6-1
Ana Ivanovic (SRB x12) bt Elina Svitolina (UKR) 6-3, 6-2
Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) bt Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN) 6-4, 6-2
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) bt Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) 6-1, 6-4
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) bt Ksenia Pervak (KAZ) 7-5, 1-2, retired
Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) bt Arantxa Rus (NED) 6-1, 6-3
Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Peng Shuai (CHN x32) 7-6 (7/5), 6-1
Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) bt Klara Zakopalova (CZE x24) 6-4, 6-4
Roberta Vinci (ITA x20) bt Urszula Radwanska (POL) 6-1, 6-1
Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino (ESP) bt Shahar Peer (ISR) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)
Ayumi Morita (JPN) bt Monica Niculescu (ROM x26) 6-3, 6-3
Angelique Kerber (GER x6) bt Anne Keothavong (GBR) 6-2, 6-0
Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) bt Mona Barthel (GER) 6-4, 6-2
Vera Dushevina (RUS) bt Nastassja Burnett (ITA) 6-0, 6-3
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) bt Vania King (USA) 6-4, 6-2
Venus Williams (USA) bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 6-3, 6-1
Jelena Jankovic (SRB x30) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 6-1, 6-2
Johanna Konta (GBR) bt Timea Babos (HUN) 6-2, 7-5
Tsevtana Pironkova (BUL) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA) 6-3, 6-4
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x13) bt Johanna Larsson (SWE) 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-0