Tennis: Serena wins WTA clay opener

CHARLESTON: World number one Serena Williams served nine aces during her first match this season on clay, beating Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-3 at the $795,000 WTA Family Circle Cup.

Williams did not commit a double fault but took full advantage of 12 by her 85th-ranked rival to win after 82 minutes in her first match since capturing the WTA Miami crown last Saturday by beating Maria Sharapova in the final.

“It wasn’t great for me — I played well, but I wasn’t great, footing-wise,” said Williams of the switch from the hard courts of Miami to the clay courts of Charleston.

Others reaching the third round included Swiss Stefanie Voegele, who ousted Spanish seventh-seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-4, and Romanian 11th-seed Sorana Cirstea, who defeated Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues in a walkover.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2013.