BEIJING: US Open Champions Serena Williams and Marin Cilic powered through their openers at the $5.4 million China Open here on Monday, with the women’s number one crushing her opponent after being 5-0 down.

Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa looked to be cruising to a memorable victory against the power-hitting American in Beijing as she raced to a five-game advantage within twenty minutes.

But Serena’s response was ruthless, taking seven consecutive games to clinch the set with an incredible show of force.

A startled Soler-Espinosa took two games in the following set, but the number one seed in Beijing closed in on victory in 73 minutes with a 7-5, 6-2 scoreline.

It was a devastating comeback and a clear statement of intent from Serena, who fell at the first hurdle at the Wuhan Open last week after retiring from her game with a viral illness.

Elsewhere in Beijing, 14-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal returned to action after a three-month injury layoff, playing alongside Pablo Andujar in the doubles. However, the Spaniards were beaten by Tomas Berdych and John Isner 7-5, 4-6, 10-4.

Nadal is the second seed in the men’s singles and will play Richard Gasquet of France on Tuesday.

The biggest surprise of the day was in the women’s singles where tenth seed Serb Jelena Jankovic was dumped out by Alize Cornet of France 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.

Home-crowd favourite Peng Shuai, who reached the US Open semi-finals earlier this month, beat compatriot Zhang Kailin 6-4, 6-1 to book her place in the next round.

Seeds Lucie Safarova and Ana Ivanovic also made it through their first-round matches.

Serb Ivanovic, a former world number one, defeated Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-1.

The ninth seed in Beijing will play another Swiss player, Romina Oprandi, in the second round.

Thirteenth seed Czech player Safarova beat Italian Camila Giorgi 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in her opening match.

In the men’s singles competition fourth seed Cilic did not drop a serve in his defeat of Chinese wildcard Yan Bai -- but was brought to break point on his first two service games.

The Croatian, playing his first game since his convincing 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, victory over Japan’s Kei Nishikori in New York, took 81 minutes to dispose of his opponent 6-3, 6-4.

Published in Dawn, September 30th , 2014