Serena Williams advanced to the second round of the French Open by beating fellow American Kristie Ahn 7-6 (2), 6-0 on Monday at Roland Garros.
The sixth seed was sluggish in the first set and struggled with her serves. But she later put herself in the right gear to overcome her opponent.
Williams won the first set in a break tie, but made it bagel in the second set.
The 39-year-old Williams is a three-time French Open champion.
She is looking to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 major titles. She next faces Bulgarian wild-card entry Tsvetana Pironkova.
Earlier today, US Open champion Dominic Thiem dominated Croatian Marin Cilic by seeing him off in three straight sets 6-4 6-3 6-3.
Third seed Thiem, beaten by Rafa Nadal in the last two French Open finals, was handed a tough first round against the Croatian former U.S. Open champion.
But he was straight into the groove under the roof on Court Phillipe Chatrier.
Cilic, who before Thiem’s Flushing Meadows win this month was the most recent first-time Grand Slam champion courtesy of his New York title in 2014, made things difficult for Thiem.
He did so with some aggressive tactics, but faltered at crucial moments.
Thiem broke the Cilic serve at 4-4 in the first set and then came from 0-40 down to seal the opening set.
Using his powerful single-handed backhand to damaging effect on the heavy claycourt, Thiem dominated the second set.
The 27-year-old lapsed briefly to trail 0-2 in the third but switched on the afterburners to reel off five games in a row before 40th-ranked Cilic stopped the rot.
Thiem had to save a break-point when he served at 5-3 and claimed his fourth win in four meetings with Cilic as the Croat netted a return off a second serve.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK