Serena Williams made a winning return after almost a year out when she beat Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova at the Eastbourne International on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old American, sidelined by injury and health problems since winning last year’s Wimbledon title, looked nervy and sluggish initially, before settling down to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.
It was far from pretty, but after saying on Monday she was on her “death bed” earlier this year, the 13-time Grand Slam champion would have been encouraged to beat an opponent who reached last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals.
Photo: AFP
In a quirk of the draw, wildcard Williams next faces top seed Vera Zvonareva, the Russian she beat in last year’s Wimbledon final just days before gashing her foot on broken glass in a Munich restaurant.
That injury eventually led to her suffering life-threatening blood clots in her lungs.
Dressed in pink and with purple streaks in her hair, Williams strode on to a sunny center court with little ceremony and took an age to unwrap her racket from its plastic cover, before gingerly taking the first steps on the most challenging comeback of her career.
However, with barely 20 minutes on the clock, she was 5-0 down in front of a capacity crowd and looking lost.
Slapping forehands into the net and looking leaden-footed the former world No. 1 cursed herself and cracked a racket frame in annoyance.
Gradually her game began to click as she held serve at the start of the second set and she forged a break ahead on her way to leveling the match with some thumping winners.
Zvonareva saw off Britain’s Heather Watson 6-3, 6-3, while French Open champion Li Na of China beat Tamira Paszek of Austria 7-5, 6-4.
Former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia recorded a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Germany’s Julia Goerges to set up a second-round tussle with Venus Williams.
Meanwhile, in the men’s draw, former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt retired from the tournament with a foot injury on Tuesday.
The Australian, who slipped out of the world’s top 100 this week, was trailing 6-2, 3-0 to Belgian Olivier Rochus when he quit their first-round match.
Former Wimbledon champion Hewitt, 30, underwent foot surgery earlier this year and his latest setback was the result of a slip at last week’s Halle Open in Germany.
Hewitt now faces a race to be fit for Wimbledon, where he won the title in 2002.
Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga moved into the second round with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin a day after the Frenchman lost to Andy Murray in the Queen’s Club final in London.
UNICEF OPEN
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Second-ranked Kim Clijsters is a doubt for Wimbledon after re-aggravating an ankle injury on Tuesday in a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 defeat to Romina Oprandi of Italy at the UNICEF Open.
The top-seeded Clijsters skidded to the net and stumbled on the first point of the second game and appeared tentative for the rest of the match, although she did not call for any medical treatment.
Clijsters said she would return home to Belgium and seek medical advice before deciding whether to play at Wimbledon.
The Belgian first hurt her ankle while dancing at her cousin’s wedding in April and she had it taped for her brief run at the French Open, where she also was knocked out in the second round.
The Belgian started the year by winning the Australian Open for her fourth Grand Slam title, but has struggled with her fitness since as she also overexerted her right shoulder and wrist during a busy spring schedule.
The 82nd-ranked Oprandi was stunned at her victory on the Rosmalen grass court.
It was Clijsters’ second straight second-round exit, after losing to Arantxa Rus in the French Open.
Clijsters’ defeat means the top seeds in the men’s and women’s draw have both been knocked out, after Michel Berrer of Germany beat Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in a first-round match on Monday.
Meanwhile, Jelena Dokic of Australia overpowered Alla -Kudryavtseva 6-0, 6-4 in the first round, while Kimiko Date-Krumm beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino 7-6 (7/3), 6-0 to set up a quarter-final with Oprandi.
In the men’s competition, third-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium beat Alejandro Falla 6-3, 6-1 in their first-round match
Malisse and will next face Dutch wild-card Jesse Huta Galung, who beat Julian Reister of Germany 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Also, fifth-seeded Jarkko -Nieminen beat Maximo Gonzalez 7-5, 6-1.
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