NEW YORK: Serena Williams overwhelmed Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-1 on Monday to reach the second round of the US Open in search of her 24th Grand Slam title while ‘rusty’ Roger Federer rallied past Indian qualifier Sumit Nagal.

Six-time US Open champion Williams crushed the five-time major winner from Russia in only 59 minutes, beating Sharapova for the 19th consecutive time and improving to 20-2 in their all-time rivalry.

“Whenever I play her I bring out some of my best tennis,” Williams said. “When you play her you have to be super focused.”

Williams, who next plays 121st-ranked US wildcard Caty McNally, blasted five aces and 16 winners while Sharapova made 20 unforced errors.

“She served really well. Found her spots really well,” Sharapova said. “I think that’s where she hurt me a lot.”

Williams is hoping to match the all-time record of 24 Slam singles titles won by Margaret Court.

Swiss third seed Federer, who has a men’s record 20 Slam titles, dropped the opening set in 36 minutes, then returned to form and defeated Nagal 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

“I played like my beard tonight. I was rusty,” Federer said.

The shock first set was a wake-up call, a 38-year-old legend who was 61-0 in Grand Slam first rounds since the 2003 French Open trailing a 22-year-old from New Delhi who is ranked 190th and fell to 0-5 in tour-level matches.

“Just tried to forget it, play tough, stay with him. It was a tough first set for me,” Federer said.

Sharapova, the 2006 US Open winner who defeated Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final, upset Simona Halep in the first round two years ago but could not revive that magic.

Eighth seed Williams rolled through the first set in 24 minutes then broke to open the second. She denied Sharapova on two break points to hold in the fifth game, an impressive backhand winner ending the threat.

Williams broke again to 4-1, rescued three break points in the sixth game to hold serve and broke again to advance, showing no sign of the back spasms that limited her pre-Open play.

Top-ranked defending champion Novak Djokovic cruised into the second round while French Open champion Ashleigh Barty and third seed Karolina Pliskova struggled but advanced.

Serbian star Djokovic, who has won four of the past five Grand Slam singles titles, dispatched Spain’s 76th-ranked Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.

Djokovic, trying to become the first back-to-back US Open winner since Federer won from 2004-2008, will next face Argentina’s 56th-ranked Juan Ignacio Londero.

Djokovic owns 16 Grand Slam titles, four off Federer’s record and two back of Spain’s Rafael Nadal. Together the ‘Big Three’ have won the past 11 Slam titles and are again heavy favourites.

Australian second seed Barty overcame a horrible start to oust 80th-ranked Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Barty made 19 unforced errors to drop the first set in 28 minutes, but took nine of the last 11 games to book a date with American Lauren Davis.

Pliskova, a 2016 US Open runner-up, edged 138th-ranked Czech compatriot Tereza Martincova 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3) after exchanging service breaks over the first six games.

Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, an ATP winner at Cincinnati, beat India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in 85 minutes. He faces Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien next.

Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori, the 2014 US Open runner-up, won 6-1, 4-1, when Argentine qualifier Marco Trungelliti retired with a back injury.

Monday’s collated results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

First round: 1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Roberto Carballes Baena (Spain) 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; Juan Ignacio Londero (Argentina) bt Sam Querrey (US) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5; Denis Kudla (US) bt Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1; 27-Dusan Lajovic (Serbia) bt Steve Darcis (Belgium) 7-5, 6-3, 6-3; 23-Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt Jannik Sinner (Italy) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-3; Jeremy Chardy (France) bt Hubert Hurkacz (Poland) 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 6-4; Miomir Kecmanovic (Serbia) bt Laslo Djere (Serbia) 6-2, 6-1, 7-5; Paolo Lorenzi (Italy) bt Zachary Svajda (US) 3-6, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; Reilly Opelka (US) bt 11-Fabio Fognini (Italy) 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3; Dominik Koepfer (Germany) bt Jaume Munar (Spain) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 7-5; Jenson Brooksby (US) bt Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; 17-Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia) bt Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt 26-Taylor Fritz (US) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan) bt Marcos Giron (US) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Hugo Dellien (Bolivia) bt Kwon Soon-woo (South Korea) 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 2-3 — Soon-woo retired; 5-Daniil Medvedev (Russia) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran (India) 6-4, 6-1, 6-2; 3-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Sumit Nagal (India) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4; Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina) bt Elliot Benchetrit (France) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-0; Dan Evans (Great Britain) bt Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3; 25-Lucas Pouille (France) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain) bt 19-Guido Pella (Argentina) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3; Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania) bt Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; Gregoire Barrere (France) bt Cameron Norrie (Great Britain) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2); 15-David Goffin (Belgium) bt Corentin Moutet (France) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0; 12-Borna Coric (Croatia) bt Evgeny Donskoy (Russia) 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, 6-0; Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) bt Andreas Seppi (Italy) 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3; Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay bt Jack Sock (US) 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5); Kamil Majchrzak (Poland) bt Nicolas Jarry (Chile) 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 6-4; 31-Cristian Garin (Chile) bt Christopher Eubanks (US) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3; Alex de Minaur (Australia) bt Pierre-Hugues Herbert (France) 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 7-5; Bradley Klahn (US) bt Thiago Monteiro (Brazil) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; 7-Kei Nishikori (Japan) bt Marco Trungelliti (Argentina) 6-1, 4-1 — Trungelliti retired.

Women’s singles:

First round: 5-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) bt Whitney Osuigwe (US) 6-1, 7-5; Venus Williams (US) bt Zheng Saisai (China) 6-1, 6-0; Rebecca Peterson (Sweden) bt Monica Puig (Puerto Rico) 6-3, 6-3; 32-Dayana Yastremska (Ukraine) bt Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2; 20-Sofia Kenin (US) bt Coco Vandeweghe (US) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Laura Siegemund (Germany) bt Magdalena Frech (Poland) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4; Zhu Lin (China) bt Wang Xinyu (China) 6-3, 6-4; 10-Madison Keys (US) bt Misaki Doi (Japan) 7-5, 6-0; 16-Johanna Konta (Great Britain) bt Daria Kasatkina (Russia) 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; Margarita Gasparyan (Russia) bt Priscilla Hon (Australia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) bt Samantha Stosur (Australia) 6-1, 6-3; 33-Zhang Shuai (China) bt Viktorija Golubic (Switzerland) 6-2, 6-1; Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic) bt Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) 6-4, 6-4; Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) bt 27-Caroline Garcia (France) 7-6 (10-8), 6-2; Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Belarus) bt Jennifer Brady (US) 6-1, 4-6, 6-0; Mariam Bolkvadze (Georgia) bt Bernarda Pera (US) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; 3-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) bt Tereza Martincova (Czech Republic) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3); 8-Serena Williams (US) bt Maria Sharapova (Russia) 6-1, 6-1; Caty McNally (US) bt Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-1; 29-Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) bt Jana Cepelova (Slovakia) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3; 22-Petra Martic (Croatia) bt Tamara Zidansek (Slovakia) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1; Ana Bogdan (Romania) bt Harriet Dart (Great Britain) 6-3, 6-1; Iga Swiatek (Poland) bt Ivana Jorovic (Serbia) 6-0, 6-1; 12-Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) bt Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-3, 6-3; Kristina Mladenovic (France) bt 14-Angelique Kerber (Germany) 7-5, 0-6, 6-4; Fiona Ferro (France) bt Daria Gavrilova (Australia) 6-3, 6-4; Alison Van Uytvanck (Belgium) bt Viktoria Kuzmova (Slovakia) 6-4, 6-4; 18-Wang Qiang (China) bt Caroline Dolehide (US) 6-4, 6-4; 30-Maria Sakkari (Greece) bt Camila Giorgi (Italy) 6-1, 6-0; Peng Shuai (China) bt Varvara Lepchenko (US) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); Lauren Davis (US) bt Johanna Larsson (Sweden) 7-5, 6-2; 2-Ashleigh Barty (Australia) bt Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2019