Tennis: Leading ladies come through first round
Third seed Williams had not played since losing in the quarter- finals of Wimbledon due to a knee injury, but relied on all her big-match experience to beat Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-1. There were occasional signs of her left knee causing Williams some pain, and she admitted: "I was pretty happy with my game, I did everything pretty consistently."
Clijsters earlier conceded she no longer has the element of surprise on her side after recovering from 4-0 down in the second set against Greta Arn.
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Hide AdThe second seed said: "I think last year the players didn't really know what to expect of me after having been off for so long. I also had a lot of questions in my mind, seeing how are the top players playing."
American Melanie Oudin, who reached the quarter-finals here last year as a 17-year-old, won 6-3, 6-0 against Olga Savchuk of Ukraine, sixth seed Francesca Schiavone and 12th seed Elena Dementieva won easily but fifth seed Samantha Stosur was made to work, beating Russia's Elena Vesnina 3-6, 7-6, 6-1. Former world No.?1 Dinara Safina lost 6-3, 6-4 to 24th seed Daniela Hantuchova.