Venus Williams is back, and she's in the mood to win a fifth Grand Slam title.
Showing no ill effects from her extended layoff, Williams returned at the Australian Open with a 6-2, 6-1 victory yesterday over American teenager Ashley Harkleroad.
"I was real excited out there today," said Williams. Before the match, she was feeling "a little sentimental."
PHOTO: AP
Afterward, "it was just like a breath of fresh air: `Oh yes, I'm back,'" she said.
The only hiccups were a twisted ankle in the fourth game and one dropped service game, in the fifth game of the second set.
"I was going for my swing volley and twisted my right ankle," she said. "I'll monitor it, see how it goes -- I'm not expecting it'll cause any problems."
PHOTO: AP
She served at speeds up to 191kph and won 75 percent of points on her first serve. She didn't waste any time, between points or on them, producing 27 winners against Harkleroad, ranked No. 51 last season.
Williams closed in 51 minutes, approaching the net and opting not to jump for Harkleroad's desperate lob on match point. She smiled as she watched it drop behind the baseline.
"It's been a long, long time," she said.
Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, seeded second, and Lleyton Hewitt, a former Wimbledon and US Open champion, also both advanced in quick time. Federer had a straight sets win over Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Hewitt was leading when Cecil Mamitt withdrew after crashing into the umpire's chair.
Williams was given the No. 3 seeding here, despite her ranking dropping to No. 11 at the end of last season. The WTA, which runs the women's tour, made the recommendation based on Williams' "protected ranking."
"I'm really grateful, I suppose, for the seeding ... [but] I think it's pretty consistent with the WTA rules," she said.
Her last match at Melbourne Park was a loss in last year's final to Serena, who withdrew from this tournament because she hadn't recovered from a knee operation.
"I wanted to do well, do what my coach said -- which is my mom, so I had to," said Williams.
Her mother, Oracene Price, exchanged text messages with Serena during the match. Venus said she was missing having her sister around.
"It's just not the same. We're always together -- it's like a piece of the link is missing,'' she said.
After losing five Grand Slam finals to her younger sister, Venus should be grateful Serena didn't travel.
Top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne is one player who has a better chance without one of the Williams in the draw. She didn't lose a game advancing to the second round, while No. 4 Amelie Mauresmo and No. 5 Lindsay Davenport also advanced Monday. Second-seeded Kim Clijsters was opening later Tuesday.
Federer reeled off seven consecutive games to close at 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in 1 hour, 29 minutes and extend Bogomolov's record in Grand Slam tournaments to 0-5.
He'll meet another American qualifier in the second round after Jeff Morrison beat Dennis van Scheppingen 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
Former No. 1 Hewitt was leading 6-2, 6-4, 1-0 when Mamiit limped off with an ankle problem after crashing into the courtside chair while chasing a drop shot.
Mamiit had his right ankle treated, served in the next game and then withdrew.
"I've never seen anything like that before," said Hewitt. "I think I'd worked into a position that was going to be hard for him to get out of anyway."
Hewitt's last three rivals have all retired during matches. Dutchman Martin Verkerk withdrew from their semifinal in Sydney last week saying he was too ill to continue. In the final, Hewitt was leading when former French Open champion Carlos Moya sprained his right ankle. The injury sidelined Moya for the Australian Open.
In other men's matches, eighth-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina beat Brazilian Ricardo Mello 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, while his compatriot and fifth-seeded Guillermo Coria lost to Cyril Saulnier of France 7-6 (7), 6-2, 6-4.
Three other seeded men's players fell, with Felix Mantilla (23rd) losing to Thierry Ascione of France, Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman (25th) losing to Armenia's Sargis Sargsian and Felicio Lopez (28th) defeated by fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin.
Greg Rusedski lost 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to 26th-seeded Albert Costa in likely his last match before he faces an ATP doping hearing at Montreal on Feb. 9.
Rusedski admitted two weeks ago he'd tested positive for nandrolone last July, but claims the banned steroid was contained in supplements dispensed by ATP trainers. He said the drug issue that has overshadowed his season hadn't interfered with his tennis and now he wanted to focus on getting his case prepared.
Advancing in straight sets were 14th-seeded Jiri Novak, a semifinalist here two years ago, Australian wild-card entry Todd Reid and Swedish teenager Joachim Johansson.
French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, seeded third, faced fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes later Tuesday.
In the women's draw, 12th-seeded Paulo Suarez, winner at a warmup event in Canberra last week, beat fellow Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-2, 6-2 and Marion Bartoli of France had a 6-3, 6-1 win over American Alexandra Stevenson, who reached the 1999 Wimbledon semifinals as a qualifier but hasn't been beyond the second round at 18 Grand Slam tournaments since.
Sixth-seeded Anastasia Myskina was one of three Russian women advancing, joined by 21st-seeded Lina Krasnoroutskaya and Elena Likhovtseva.
Carlos Moya's Australian Open ended before he stepped on court for his opening match. It didn't stop him, however, from delivering a verbal serve at organizers of the season-opening Grand Slam.
Moya pulled out of the Open on Monday after his injured right ankle prevented him from playing his first-round match against American James Blake.
A disappointed Moya criticized tournament executive director Paul McNamee, accusing him of unfair and inconsiderate treatment, after a request for an extra day to recover was denied.
Moya sprained his ankle in the final of the Sydney warmup event last Saturday. By then Australian Open officials had already decided to schedule the top half of the men's draw for day one and a request by seventh-seeded Moya for an exception was denied.
The Spaniard, the 1997 Australian Open runner-up, labeled it as ``unfair.''
"If I was [Mark] Philippoussis, [Lleyton] Hewitt, or [Andre] Agassi, McNamee would change his mind, for sure," Moya was quoted as saying in The Age newspaper.
"I see all the physios here, all the doctors, my own physio. They all said maybe if I could have one more day, I could have chance to play," Moya added.
"But I [have] been unlucky because they didn't give me one more day."
Moya said that in two days his ankle had improved and he was ``very optimistic that maybe I could play tomorrow.''
Tennis Australia spokesman John Lindsay said the decision on which half of the draw played first had been made before Moya was injured.
"Even so, no one knows the extent of the injury and whether an extra day would have made any difference," he said.
"If someone was given that extra day, and then they lost the match, their opponent would have been disadvantaged going into the next round."
No comeback
Martina Hingis is a three-time champion and six-time finalist at the Australian Open. But her role this year at the Melbourne Grand Slam event will be behind a microphone.
The former No. 1-ranked Hingis, 23, is adamant she has played her last competitive match on the women's tour. Her career has been curtailed by foot problems.
``If I wanted to train for four to six hours, it's not possible,'' said Hingis. ``It's OK to live my life and to live a good life, but there will be no comeback.''
Hingis will provide special comments for Australian television network Channel Seven at the Open.
Despite her injury problems, the five-time Grand Slam winner is skeptical about calls by players for a shorter season to spare themselves injury.
"The game is getting more physical but that's the case with sports more generally and the injuries will always be there," she said.
Friendly encounter
Qualifier Camille Pin won her first Grand Slam match on Monday -- and earned a likely center court match with childhood friend and No. 1-ranked Justin Henin-Hardenne.
Pin, from Nice, France, and Henin-Hardenne have been friends since they were 10 years old. But that will be put aside when they meet in the second round of the Australian Open.
"It doesn't get any better than this, getting to play against the No. 1 in the world after your first win in a Grand Slam," Pin said after defeating Tathiana Garbin of Italy 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-4.
"Justine and I have known each other since we were really small, since we were both 10. She hasn't changed at all, even if she has become No. 1 in the world."
Pin, whose boyfriend is tour player Arnaud Clement of France, had played only four previous Grand Slam matches before this year's Open. She lost in the first round at the last three French Opens and also at the 2003 Australian Open.
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