SERENA WILLIAMS commenced her bid for a fourth French Open title with a well-earned if not entirely convincing 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win over Kristyna Pliskova in her much-anticipated Grand Slam return. The unseeded 36-year-old looked rusty and short of full fitness in her first outing at a major since her triumph at the 2017 Australian Open, which came prior to a lengthy period out of the game due to the birth of her daughter in September. Defeats to sister Venus at Indian Wells and Naomi Osaka at the Miami Open in March cast doubt over whether she could notch a 24th Grand Slam singles title in Paris. But, while she did not completely dismiss those concerns on Court Philippe Chatrier, Williams — sporting an eye-catching all-in-one black catsuit — did enough to comfortably advance to round two. China’s top-ranked tennis player Zhang Shuai beat Slovakian Kristina Kucova 6-0, 7-5 to move past women’s singles first round Tuesday. Zhang posted her best record of last 32 last year. She met little resistance from 260th-placed Kucova at the start and won six games in a row in the first set. “The first set was much easier than what I expected. She conceded too many errors,” commented Zhang on her lopsided first set victory. However, it was a different scenario in the second set. Kucova improved her forehand quality, and after the two players held serves for a 2-2 tie, Kucova broke for an upper hand. Zhang had her response of breaking Kucova’s service in the sixth game. She won two successive games to seal a second-round berth.(SD-Xinhua) |