| | Associated Press
WIMBLEDON, England -- Serena Williams, playing her first
match in more than 2½ months, scored a 6-3, 6-2 victory Monday over
Sweden's Asa Carlsson in the first round of Wimbledon.
Martina Hingis, top-seeded among the women, also opened with an
easy victory. But she needed eight match points in
the final game before putting away Spain's Angeles Montolio 6-1,
6-2.
|  | | Martina Hingis sailed through her match with the exception of a bumpy final point. |
Williams, the eighth-seeded American, who has been sidelined since April
11 with tendinitis in her left knee, showed signs of rustiness in
the early going. But once Williams began hitting freely on her
groundstrokes, she was too powerful for the 38th-ranked Carlsson,
who has won only one match in eight appearances at Wimbledon.
The first game was the tightest of the match, going to eight
deuces, five break points and six game points before Williams held
serve.
After Williams hit her fifth ace to close out the match, she
broke into a wide smile and waved and blew kisses to the fans on
Court 3. Williams, last year's U.S. Open champion, reached the
third round of Wimbledon in 1998 but pulled out last year with the
flu.
"It was good to be out there and get the feel of the court, to
get the feel of some matches again," Williams said. "I feel
tournament tough. I feel confident. ... This is really my surface.
I play a fast game. I should be dominating here."
Venus Williams, seeded No. 5, is playing only her fourth tournament since
last November because of tendinitis in both wrists. She dispatched
41st-ranked Czech Kveta Hrdlickova 6-3, 6-1.
Anna Kournikova pulled off the first upset of the tournament by knocking out
10th-seeded Sandrine Testud 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
The 19-year-old Russian, whose glamorous looks have made her the
overwhelming focus of attention in the British press, was a
semifinalist here in 1997 but is ranked only 19th this year because
of an ankle injury that has restricted her play.
Kournikova appeared to be sailing to an easy victory, leading
5-2 in the second set. But Testud rallied, saving two match points
at 4-5 and winning five straight games to force a third set.
Hingis, who won Wimbledon in 1997 as a 16-year-old, overwhelmed
her 42nd-ranked opponent on opening day of the two-week tournament.
But with Hingis serving for the match at 5-2, Montolio came to
life. She began moving the Swiss star from side to side and
knocking off winners.
Hingis smiled in admiration after the first few match points,
but then grimaced and bounced her racket in frustration as each
successive chance slipped by.
Then Montolio sailed a backhand long on the eighth, Hingis threw
up her arms as if to say, "Finally."
"I just couldn't finish it off," she said. "She played so
well on those match points. She always came up with an amazing
winner. I was like, 'OK, not much I can do about that.' As long as
I always won the deuce points, I was fine."
Hingis, who lost in the first round at Wimbledon last year to
qualifier Jelena Dokic, relished playing the opening match of the
tournament on Court 1.
"That's pretty much the way you want it," she said. "Nobody
has played on that court before. It's very soft, like a carpet."
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