CHARLESTON, SC, USA – 2004 Volvo Car Open champion Venus Williams made a thunderous return in Charleston, hitting 20 winners to ease past Alison Riske, 6-4, 6-2.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Charleston right here on wtatennis.com!
“It wasn’t easy,” the former No.1 told Andrew Krasny during her on-court interview. “It was great tennis from both of us, an hour and a half of slam, bam, thank you m’am!
“I was really impressed with her; it was great to have Americans playing well.”
Keeping up a high first serve percentage, the elder of the Williams sisters hit three aces and broke serve five times in the nearly 90 minute match; despite it being her first clay court match of 2016, she still found her way to the net 26 times, winning 17 of those points. What made the difference for Venus in a battle of big hitters?
“I don’t know; I’m a little bit taller? Maybe that’s an unfair advantage,” she said with a laugh. “Thanks Mom; thanks Dad! But I think just experience definitely helped; she’s played good matches and won titles, so just the experience of playing those important points helped me a little more today.”
The No.3 seed will have an even greater height advantage in her next round as she takes on the 5’4″ Yulia Putintseva for a spot in the quarterfinals. Putintseva rallied from losing the second set of her match against 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki to serve out a titanic third set against her more experienced opponent, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Williams and Putintseva have met thrice before, with the American winning all three matches in tight, two-set matches. No doubt another advantage will be the enthusiatic Charleston crowd, who cheered for the decorated veteran throughout her second round victory.
“Thank you guys for rooting me on; I love being here. I love Charleston. It’s like my second home, and so I’m looking forward to the next match!”
Earlier in the day, No.7 seed Sloane Stephens won her first match since hoisting her second title of the season by defeating Danka Kovinic, 6-4, 6-3. Former Charleston finalists Lucie Safarova and Madison Keys eached dropped their opening round matches to Louisa Chirico and Laura Siegemund, respectively. Safarova, the No.4 seed and 2015 French Open finalist, was playing her first match on clay and only her fourth singles match of 2016 after illness and injury interrupted her start to the season.
Keys appeared on well on her way to moving past a tricky veteran in Siegemund, but the 28-year-old beguiled last year’s runner-up with an array of dropshots to edge out the victory in three sets.
“I think it was a very high level that we both played,” Siegemund said after the match. “I think it was a great match in general. I had chances in the first set, had a set point, but she played very well in the tough moments, so I had to be patient and wait for more chances to come.”
Variety was the name of the game for Siegemund, who in the midst of a career-best season after reaching the third round of the Australian Open – her best-ever Grand Slam finish – back in January.
“I’m definitely a clay court player and against someone like Madison who’s a hard hitter and likes to hit fast balls, I like to mix it up, play higher, lower, try to play slices and drops. That’s just my game and I think it worked well.”
Siegemund will play another big-hitter in Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who saved four match points to defeat Kristina Mladenovic on Tuesday.
“Honestly, I haven’t thought about it much yet because I was thinking about my performance today and going through that. It’s just another match so I’ll focus, regroup and go out and try to play well again tomorrow.”
On the outer courts, No.14 seed Daria Kasatkina continued her clay court domination with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over fellow 18-year-old and former junior rival, Ana Konjuh. Kasatkina will next play Chirico for a spot in her first WTA clay court quarterfinal.
It was a tough finish for 2014 semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard, who had just leveled her match against Lourdes Domínguez Lino when she was forced to retire with a left abdominal injury; the Spanish veteran was leading the former World No.5, 6-4, 1-6, 1-0.
“I wanted to give it another game in the third set, and when I realized I couldn’t serve faster than I could serve lefty, then I thought I should probably stop playing,” she said after the match.
“It’s the same one [from last summer], which is why I’m concerned and why I did retire, to not get in the same situation as I was last year where I pushed way too much with an injury and made it worse.”
Also dealing with injury was No.2 seed Belinda Bencic, who is still dealing with back issues that forced her to retire from her match at the Miami Open. Playing 2011 runner-up Elena Vesnina, Bencic only managed two games as the Russian ran away with the affair, 6-1, 6-1.
“It wasn’t easy because Belinda is having a great season,” she said during her on-court interview. “She’s a young player in the Top 10 already. I saw at the end of the second set she started moving slowly. She had some problems with her back, but she started swinging and hitting as she could and it wasn’t easy. But I’m happy that I won this match and I’m sorry for Belinda; I hope she will be ready for the next tournaments.”
Vesnina has been surging back up the rankings following a year of inconsistent results; the former World No.21 has already earned wins over Simona Halep, Venus Williams, and Caroline Wozniacki. What’s her secret?
“Maybe because I got married? I guess so, because my results are getting better and better every week. I’m really enjoying my time here and I love Charleston. I love coming back here; my friends live here and they came to support me!”
The last match of the day was a night session match between Andrea Petkovic and Monica Puig, who roared back from 5-2 down in the openng set to defeat the 2014 champion, 7-5, 6-2.
