Tennis: Leading ladies come through first round

Shocks were conspicuous by their absence on the opening day of the US Open, with Venus Williams and defending champion Kim Clijsters among the seeds enjoying a comfortable passage into the second round at Flushing Meadows.

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.

The 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.