CHARLESTON, South Carolina: World No. 1 Serena Williams served nine aces Tuesday during her first match this season on clay, beating Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-3 at the $795,000 WTA Family Circle Cup.
Williams did not commit a double fault but took full advantage of 12 by her 85th-ranked rival to win after 82 minutes in her first match since capturing the WTA Miami crown last Saturday by beating Maria Sharapova in the final.
“It wasn’t great for me — I played well, but I wasn’t great, footing-wise,” Williams said of the switch from the hard courts of Miami to the clay courts of Charleston.
“I was just trying to get my stability. I only had one or two days of practice. But I felt good. I’m glad I came here and hope I can get ready for what can hopefully be another good clay court season.”
Next in the path of Williams, who was among eight top seeds to receive a first-round bye, is a third-round match against either Germany’s 15th-seeded Sabine Lisicki or US qualifier Mallory Burdette.
Others reaching the third round included Swiss Stefanie Voegele, who ousted Spanish seventh seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-4, and Romanian 11th seed Sorana Cirstea, who defeated Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues in a walkover.
US wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands rebounded from a marathon first-round victory on Monday to topple fourth-seeded compatriot Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-0 and reach the third round.
Among first-round winners were Britain’s Laura Robson, who dismissed Spain’s Estrella Cabeza Candela 6-2, 6-2, and New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic, who eliminated Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.
In London, Britain’s No. 1 female tennis player, Heather Watson, revealed on Wednesday that she has been diagnosed with glandular fever.
The 20-year-old’s form has dipped since she reached the third round of the Australian Open in January, with first-round defeats in the recent tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
After losing to Ayumi Morita in Miami, Watson said she needed a break from the sport, only to then retract her statement and claim she had merely been disappointed by the result.
However, she was forced to pull out of this week’s tournament in Charleston and blood tests have since confirmed that she is suffering from glandular fever.
“I had to do some blood tests after Miami and the results have shown that I have traces of glandular fever in my system,” Watson said on the website of British governing body the Lawn Tennis Association.
“There is no prescription for this other than complete rest but the good news is that the doctors have told me I am at the tail-end of the fever. This means I have been trying to compete through the symptoms for some time.”
