Serena Breezes Through

Reigning champion Serena Williams avoided the ignominious fate of her male counterpart, Lleyton Hewitt, by beginning the defence of her crown with a 6-3, 6-3 win over fellow American, Jill Craybas.

The world No1 opened in brilliant sunshine with a 92mph serve and quickly got up to 108mph to provide an early indication that, despite her failure to reach the French Open final, she remains the woman to beat.

Nevertheless, Williams was in far from top form, achieving only a 53% success rate with her first serve and coming up with 21 unforced errors.

Williams won the title last year without losing a single set, and although Craybas, ranked 67 in the world, won her first service game, the champion clicked quickly into gear, sealing the first set in just 24 minutes.

And Williams remained on course for a quick-fire victory when she broke her opponent in the first game of the second set.

But the champion, so assured on her own serve in the first set, then produced a careless service game and Craybas took full advantage to break back.

The break gave Craybas, facing Williams for the first time, the confidence to play her best tennis of the match, keeping the favourite pinned back on the baseline.

But it could not last and Williams duly achieved two more breaks and served out for a straight-sets victory.