Serena Williams got her bid for grand slam history off to a solid start at the US Open in New York but the world number one remains cautious on the state of her troublesome shoulder.
Williams has played just three matches since she equalled Steffi Graf’s open-era record of 22 grand slam titles victory at Wimbledon in early July.
A seventh career singles title at Flushing Meadows would move the 34-year-old clear of Graf’s record and put here within one of Margaret Court’s all-time best.
Williams began her US Open campaign with a straightforward 6-3 6-3 success against a potentially tricky opponent in world number 29 Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.
Williams wore compression sleeves on both arms in Arthur Ashe Stadium but there were no signs of trouble with her shoulder.
Afterwards, she suggested only time would tell how her body reacts to the demands of grand slam tennis once more.
“I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see, I haven’t been able to play that much since Wimbledon,” said Williams.
“Every day I’ll just see how it goes.” Williams faces fellow American Vania King in round two.
Despite the memory of a shock loss to Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals 12 months ago that ended her dreams of the feted ‘Serena Slam’, she is delighted to be back at the New York venue.
Williams did concede however that she held off on her own serve in dispatching Makarova. “I love coming out here in front of this New York crowd, its super special,” she said.
“I got off to a really fast start – I wanted to get some momentum. I didn’t hit my serves as hard as I normally hit them.
I just went for more placement. I didn’t go for the big 120s, just the regular.” Williams is 2.30 to win the US Open.
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