Venus off to a winning start in Melbourne

Former world No.1 Venus Williams outclassed Holland’s Arantxa Rus in straight sets to reach the second round of the Yarra Valley Classic in a busy weekend of Australian Open warm-up events.

The 40-year-old American never looked troubled as she broke serve twice to win 6-1 6-3.

American 13th seed Danielle Collins had an easy 6-3 6-3 win against Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure and Australia’s Daria Gavrilova easily beat Slovakian Viktoria Kuzmova 6-2 6-0 win in an hour.

Also advancing was Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova, who beat former US Open champion Samantha Stosur 6-2 6-0.

Unseeded Romanian Ana Bogdan beat Russian teenager Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2 6-2 to set up a date with Australian Ash Barty.

Peter Rowe

Recent Posts

Mateship kicked to the curb in Sinner win

Jannik Sinner put his friendship with Lorenzo Sonego on the back burner in a 6-0,…

6 hours ago

Nadal takes revenge with Madrid grudge win

Rafael Nadal took a huge step in his injury comeback scenario as the clay court icon…

12 hours ago

Rublev reverses his spring loss streak

Andrey Rublev brought a halt to a painful loss streak lasting for nearly two months…

1 day ago

Aggressive Alcaraz motors in Madrid

Carlos Alcaraz began his delayed clay season on Friday after a month of arm injury…

2 days ago

Unsure Nadal puts RG commitment on ice

Rafael Nadal heads into his weekend clash at the Madrid Masters plagued by doubts over…

2 days ago

Swiatek complains about a lack of player power

Iga Swiatek remains perplexed about the huge lack of influence top players have on WTA…

2 days ago