Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka are off to fast starts at the Australian Open.
After losing the opening game, Williams won 10 games in a row and beat Laura Siegemund 6-1, 6-1 on the first day of the tournament Monday. The victory marked the start of Williams’ latest bid for a record-tying 24th major title.
Williams, the No. 10 seed, took the court in a colorful one-legged catsuit, and her game looked flashy too. She lost only nine points on her serve and hit 16 winners. She saved one of her best shots for the final game, racing forward to flip an off-balance backhand off her shoestrings for a cross-court winner.
“This was a good start — vintage ‘Rena,” said Williams, who became the only woman since the Open era began in 1968 to play 100 Australian Open matches (88-12 record). “It’s definitely good. I’m pretty good at pacing myself at a Grand Slam.”
For the past four years, Williams has been trying to equal Australian Margaret Court’s record for major titles. Williams’ most recent Grand Slam championship came at Melbourne in 2017.
No. 3 Osaka, who won the title in Melbourne two years ago, played the first match of the tournament in Rod Laver Arena and beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-2.
The first tournament of this year’s Grand Slam season began after a three-week delay because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Physically, I feel like everyone — their bodies are shocked, coming in and playing so suddenly after such a long break,” Osaka said. “I think we’re all getting used to it, and everyone is just happy to be here.”
Osaka drew a potentially tough opening opponent in Pavlyuchenkova, a Russian ranked 39th who reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne three of the past four years. But Osaka breezed through the first set in 21 minutes and barely slowed after that. She finished with more winners than errors and lost only five points on her first serve.
She has won 15 consecutive matches, including the US Open final in September, since her most recent loss in a Fed Cup match a year ago.
Serena’s older sister Venus, a seven-time major champion, won the first match at Margaret Court Arena with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Kirsten Flipkens.
The win ended Venus Williams’ four-match losing streak at majors, the longest of her career. The victory came in Williams’ 88th Grand Slam match, a women’s record.
At 40, Williams is the oldest woman in this year’s draw and just the sixth player in her 40s to compete at the Australian Open.
Other women’s Grand Slam singles titlists in action on the opening day include two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu.
Canadian Rebecca Marino, a former top-40 player competing in a Grand Slam event for the first time in eight years, beat wild-card entry Kimberly Birrell 6-0, 7-6 (9). Marino was sidelined by depression and a serious foot injury.
Up to 30,000 fans — about 50% of capacity — will be allowed on the tournament site, but seats were mostly empty for the start of play on a cool morning.
“Listen, this is amazing,” Serena Williams said. “Last year was very scary for the world. To be able to do what I love and be able to come out and compete … it makes me appreciate the moment even more.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.