Serena Williams shook off an out-of-sorts first-set showing to see off a plucky challenge from Margarita Gasparyan and book a place in the second round of Wimbledon with a 6-4, 6-1 victory Monday.
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World No. 1 Williams is bidding to secure a second "Serena Slam" and complete the third leg of what could be her first calendar Grand Slam.
Yet, not for the first time, she struggled to hit top gear in her opening match, as Gasparyan — who has never won a match on the main WTA Tour — put up a good fight in her debut on the famous All England Club grass courts.
In the end, though, world No. 113 Gasparyan was overpowered by the five-time Wimbledon champion, whose star quality came through on Court 1 in a second set that lasted 35 minutes.
Gasparyan broke in the first game of the match when Williams put a backhand into the net. The American looked disjointed in the early stages and sent a series of wild forehands sailing wide.
Williams fought off a break-point to avoid going 4-1 down, but Gasparyan's inexperience showed as the 20-time Grand Slam winner eked out chances, eventually leading to her breaking back in game six when the Russian put a backhand wide.
Moments of brilliance from Gasparyan were too often undone by sloppy errors or poor serving and Williams — who racked up 15 unforced errors in the first set — broke again in the final game of the opener when Gasparyan put a forehand into the net, leading to a shriek of "come on" from the top seed.
Williams then began to dominate and soon broke for a 2-0 lead in the second set when Gasparyan failed to deal with the speed of her opponent's strokes and netted another forehand.
There were still nervy moments for Williams, though, as she fended off three break points in game five.
A thumping forehand earned Williams a double-break 5-1 lead and she converted her second match point with a fierce overhead half-volley at the net.