Serena surges into second round, top seed Simona falls

NEW YORK: Serena Williams made a triumphant return to the US Open on Monday, launching her bid for a recordequalling 24th Grand Slam victory with a straight-sets win as top-seeded Simona Halep made dubious history with a firstround exit.

Serena, who counts six US Open titles among her 23 Grand Slams, can match Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 majors with another title at Flushing Meadows.

She missed last year’s edition as she gave birth to daughter Olympia on Sept 1, but showed every indication she’s ready to make up for lost time in a 6-4, 60 victory over Poland’s Magda Linette.

“I think I’m getting there,” said Serena, who turned up the heat on a steamy New York night that opened with a gala celebration of the US Open’s 50th anniversary.

The 68th-ranked Magda held her own in the early going, but Serena gained the only break she needed in the first set in the seventh game and rolled from there.

She didn’t face a break point in the 70-minute match, firing 23 winners and wrapping up the second set in less than half an hour.

Serena’s path may have been eased by Kaia Kanepi’s stunning upset of world number one Simona, who became the first topseeded woman to lose in the first round of the US Open.

It was the kind of Grand Slam history Simona could have done without as she tried to expunge the memory of her first round loss to Maria Sharapova at Flushing Meadows last year.

But the Romanian, who broke through for a first Grand Slam title at the French Open this year, had no answer for Kanepi’s power.

The Estonian fired 26 winners to Simona’s nine, cutting the rallies short and remorselessly punishing Simona’s second serve.

While Simona is no longer in her path, Serena could face another early test — a possible third-round clash with 16thseeded sister Venus.

Venus, a seven-time Slam winner, outlasted another former champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

Defending champion Sloane Stephens encountered late resistance but held on for a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Russian Evgeniya Rodina.

Sloane, seeded third behind simona and Caroline Wozniacki, looked to be cruising with a 3-1 lead in the second set.

But unseeded Evgeniya had other ideas, turning the tables to take a 5-4 lead before Sloane reasserted herself.

Elsewhere on the opening day, seventh-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over China’s Zhang Shuai.

Two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka, a former world number one now ranked 80th in the world, defeated Viktoria Kuzmova 6-3, 7-5 to st up a meeting with Australian Daria Gavrilova, who steamrolled Sara Sorribes 6-0, 6-0.