Serena Williams hits a shot during her Australian Open women’s singles first round match against Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.

MELBOURNE: Serena Williams began her quest for a 23rd Grand Slam tit le in style Tuesday, overcoming the threat from Swiss star Belinda Bencic in an Australian Open performance she modestly rated as “pretty good”.

The American great, who lost the top ranking to Angelique Kerber last year, blitzed the unseeded 19-year- old 6- 4, 6- 3 on Rod Laver Arena in scorching temperatures as she hunts down a seventh Melbourne Park crown.

It sets her up for a clash with Lucie Safarova from the Czech Republic, who saved nine match points before beating Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in their first round encounter.

“She ( Bencic) is a great player, recently rated in the top 10. It really was one of the toughest first round matches I have ever played. I knew I had to be strong. Right now I have nothing to lose,” added Wi l liams, whose new fiance, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, was watching from the stands. “Every match I play is for fun. It’s self-motivating. I’m just happy to be playing.”

Asked how she rated her form, she said: “I think it was pretty good. She’s a really good player, so I think I was able to start out well. I made a few errors on some key points, but for the most part, I still was going for everything and I was able to close it out.”

Williams, who lost last year’s final to Kerber, came into the opening Grand Slam of the year with question marks over her form. She has barely played since the US Open last September due to injury, and her build-up was set back when she was bundled out of this month’s Auckland Classic in the second round. — AFP