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Serena eases to victory

Dubai - Women's world number one Serena Williams eased into the third round of the WTA Dubai Open on Tuesday in her first match back since injuring her back at the Australian Open beating Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (10/8), 6-0.

The 32-year-ols American had a decent tussle in the first set having to save two set points against the world number 24 from Russia before settling into her groove to romp through the second set.

Williams, who took a last moment wildcard into this tournament, began gingerly and took about an hour before she hit the ball with anything like her usual authority.

Once she started to do that, she prevailed more quickly, finishing the match feeling more hopeful that it might have been the right decision to compete again for the first time in four weeks.

"It was really difficult at first and I was a little bit frustrated," Williams admitted.

"I have been practising and this wasn't what I had been practising.

"I was making a lot of errors I don't usually make, and my serve was not popping. But I stayed positive, and the second set was better. The body felt all right."

She trailed 1-3 in the first set, broke back, trailed 3-5, broke back again, and found herself in trouble when she was down 4-6 in the tie-break, with two set points against her.

At that stage Williams was far from her real self.

But Williams is nothing if not a fighter. She saved one set point with a drop shot, quite a rarity for her, which opened up the court for a forehand pass, and regained parity with an excellent backhand pass down the line.

Her backhand ground strokes seemed the more secure and it was these which enabled her to manoeuvre Makarova into errors which caused the Russian's excellent chance to slip away.

After Makarova counter-hit a ball long to lose that first set, the pattern changed utterly.

Williams broke serve immediately in the second set and the match turned into a rout.

"I'm just happy to win because she is a good player. But I am going to have to play better if I am going to do better here," said Williams, who has never won this tournament.

Williams has a day off during which she will learn whether she next plays Jelena Jankovic, the former world number one from Serbia who criticised the legend's behaviour after losing to her in the final of the WTA (season-end) Championships, or Lucie Safarova, the in-form world number 28 from the Czech republic.

Williams earlier described the injury which had prevented her from making her scheduled return to the tour last week in Doha as "just really rib issues."

She reckoned that it was "kind of hard to describe, hard to explain, it's kind of tedious to explain - very technical," completing the description with a grin.

Earlier her elder sister Venus Williams learned that her second round opponent will be Ana Ivanovic, the former world number one from Serbia, who saved a match point to survive 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) against Angelique Kerber, the sixth seeded German.

Results on second day of the WTA Dubai Open (x denotes seeding):

1st rd

Ana Ivanovic (SRB) bt Angelique Kerber (GERx6) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6)

Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) bt Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 6-1, 7-5

Jelena Jankovic (SRB x5) bt Maryna Zanevska (UKR) 6-4, 6-3

Alize Cornet (FRA) bt Simona Halep (ROM x7) 6-1, 1-1 abandon

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x8) bt Sabine Lisicki (GER) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3

Annika Beck (GER) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS) 1-6, 6-1, 6-4

Flavia Pennetta (ITA) bt Kaia Kanepi (EST) 7-5, 6-4

2nd rd

Serena Williams (USA x1) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 7-6(10/8), 6-0

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