Serena Williams into second round at French Open

PARIS (AFP) –

Serena Williams during her match against Anna Tatishvili at the French Open on May 26, 2013 at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris. Williams avoided the first round flop that stunned her in Paris last year when she crushed Tatishvili 6-0, 6-1 on the first day of the French Open on Sunday.

Women’s top seed, 2002 champion and overwhelming favourite Serena Williams buried the ghosts of her 2012 first round horror show to storm into the second round of the French Open on Sunday.

The 31-year-old American, bidding for a 16th Grand Slam title, suffered her worst defeat at a major in Paris 12 months ago when she was dumped out of the first round by Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano.

But today, Williams extended her current winning streak to 25, the best of her career, with a 6-0, 6-1 demolition of Georgia’s Anna Tatishvili, the world number 80, who, until reaching the Strasbourg quarter-finals last week, had not won a match on the main tour in 2013.

It took Williams just 51 minutes to complete victory on a chilly Court Philippe Chatrier where the temperature hovered just above the 10-degree mark, firing 27 aces to her opponent’s four.

“I am very happy, I feel very strong and I have been playing really well for the last three months,” said the American, who next faces either France’s Caroline Garcia or Yuliya Beygelzimer of Ukraine.