Serena Williams up and running on clay as Johanna Konta also advances at Italian Open
Serena Williams kicked off her clay-court season with a solid win over Rebecca Peterson at the Italian Open as Johanna Konta also got her campaign in Rome off the ground.
Four-time Rome champion Williams hasn’t played any competitive tennis since she withdrew from her third-round clash at the Miami Open in March, but there were not too many signs of rustiness as she beat the Swede 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes.
.@serenawilliams takes her @InteBNLdItalia opener!
She moves into the second round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Peterson 💪 pic.twitter.com/5yMkdORZVj
— WTA (@WTA) May 13, 2019
Peterson had the early initiative as she broke in game four, but the 23-time Grand Slam winner won the next four games while she dominated the second set courtesy of breaks in games three and six.
There could be an all-Williams second-round clash as sister Venus Williams takes on Elise Mertens later in the day with the winner facing Serena.
British No 1 Johanna Konta also made an excellent start as she secured a 6-4, 6-1 win over Alison Riske in one hour and 30 minutes.
Konta broke once in the first set and three times in the second to set up a clash against seventh seed Sloane Stephens, who had a bye in the first round.
Same round. Same score. Different city. 😏@JohannaKonta took out Alison Riske in Madrid and does the same at @InteBNLdItalia to reach the second round 6-4, 6-1. pic.twitter.com/cBL23XjoSy
— WTA (@WTA) May 13, 2019
Two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza, meanwhile, showed signs of form as she beat Zheng Saisai 6-4, 6-3 while Dominica Cibulkova earned a clash against world No 1 Naomi Osaka with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
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