Serena wins in straight sets in Wimbledon opener

Serena Williams got off to a strong start in her Wimbledon opener on Monday, defeating Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 7-5, 6-3 in 1 hour and 29 minutes.

The seven-time Wimbledon champ, seeded 25th at the All England Club despite her world No. 181 ranking, will next play Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova in the second round. Tomova swept Tereza Smitkova of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (3), 6-1 on Monday.

Williams, 36, is still looking for her first win since taking time off before having her first child last year. On Monday, she had to work in the first set, winning the deciding game when Rus sent a forehand long on her second break point of the 12th game. Williams had to work even harder in the second.

After Williams fought back from 30-40 in the first game, Rus, ranked 105th in the world, broke Williams in the third game. She then held serve to take a 3-1 lead. But the American won the final five games to seal the match, finally clinching it on her sixth match point.

Williams committed 28 unforced errors in the match, though some of that could be attributed to the wind on Court One. Several serve tosses were repeated in the match, and fans had a hard time holding their hats on their heads.

“I wasn’t quite used to that level of wind,” Williams said after the match. “Looking back, I’m glad I had that wind as in the future I will be able to play a bit better.

“I’m happy to get through that, I didn’t play my best but I will get there.”

–Field Level Media