Serena Williams powers down Elena Vesnina in the opening round – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
American power house, Serena Williams, posed yet another explosive display of dominance and sheer class to overwhelm the 68th ranked Russian, Elena Vesnina, in the opening round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Monday. The
world number nine took merely 69 minutes to wrap up victory in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, to reach the second round of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Mandatory event.
Being played on the blue clay of Madrid, Spain, the contest witnessed exceptional pin-point hitting from the ninth seed American veteran throughout the play. She already defeated Vesnina in Charleston, USA, earlier this season
and her Monday’s victory improved her head-to-head lead by 3-0 against the talented Russian. Serena is now 17-2 in the 2012 WTA season and eyeing for her second championship title of the year in Madrid.
"I always hate the 11 o'clock matches, but it's okay," Williams said in her post match reviews. "I tend to do really well when I play early, so I don't know why I don't like them. I wasn't thrilled with my performance today, but
I'm feeling good. I'd be thrilled if I got into the finals or something. This was just the first round."
The 30-year-old American was absolutely phenomenal with her serve game in the match. She reached 72 per cent serve precision during the combat and fired 14 thudding aces to clinch un-fought points. She dropped merely three points
on her first serve, securing 25 out of 28 en route to victory and converted four out of nine break points to drive her opponent out of the tournament with authority.
On the other hand, Vesnina utterly failed to craft even a single break point in the entire matchup to finish on the losing side in the end. She spilled out a number of unforced errors in the match, including six double faults and
gifted away 22 out of 50 returns points to Serena on her first serve. The Russian contender posed some early resistance in the opening set but couldn’t stand against the all-round onslaught from the ninth seed American and suffered a breadstick before losing
the matchup.
Serena will next face the other unseeded Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the second round of the Madrid Open.
"It doesn't matter who I play," Williams expressed after her opening victory. "This is my first tournament in Europe, so hopefully I will keep my good form and just keep going."
Serena’s sister, Venus Williams, lost her second round battle against the 12th seed German, Angelique Kerber, later on the same day.
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