It was a contrasting tale of two Williams sisters on the opening day of the 2013 French Open as world's no.1 Serena Williams made a quick work of his opponent to advance into the next round of the tournament while her elder sister Venus Williams fell to an up-and-coming young star from Poland on Sunday.
Serena lived up to her status as the no.1 seed of the clay-court Grand Slam tourney, easily dispatching Anna Tatishvili 6-0, 6-1 at Court Philippe Chatrier.
Coming off sensational wins in Madrid and Italy, Williams delivered another showcase of dominance on the red dirt as she obliterated her opponent with bludgeoning serves and powerful forehand returns.
Williams fired eight aces and won 28 of 33 points on her serves. She also racked up the first nine games against Tatishvili, who was left in awe of the 15-time Grand Slam champion.
"I've played a lot of players who have very good serves, but hers is consistently good, so you always feel pressure when you're returning," Tatishvili told reporters after the game, according to the Associated Press.
Despite the lopsided loss, Tatishvili just couldn't hide her feeling after playing the best women's tennis player in her era.
"I wasn't really surprised, because I've watched her so much, you know? It's Serena Williams; you watch her always on TV or at tournaments. But it's the first time I felt what I had seen," added the 74th ranked Georgian netter.
Serena is set to face French qualifier Caroline Garcia in the second round.
On the other hand, 7-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams bowed out in the first round after succumbing to Poland's Urszula Radwanska 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-4.
Seeded no. 30 in the tournament, Williams came up with flashes of old sets in the first two sets despite dealing with lower back inflammation but she simply ran out of gas against the 22-year old Radwanska in the deciding set.
"I can't really serve very hard. It's painful when I do that. But I'm getting better. I just, you know, ran out of time to get better," said Venus.
Radwanska set herself with a second-round showdown against Germany's Dinah Pfizenmaier. In the eventuality Urszula wins her next match, there's a high possibility she will face her older sister and no.4 seed Agnieska Radwanska in the third round.
Live Stream (Radio)
Live stream coverage can be heard by clicking here.
Schedule
For the full schedule of Day 2 of the Roland Garros (Monday) click here.
Live Score
Live scores could be followed by clicking here.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
