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Serena Williams has delayed her farewell to tennis at the US Open as the sporting icon battled to a first round victory in front of a star-studded crowd.
The 23-time Grand Slam winner — who has signalled she plans to retire from tennis after the tournament — drew on all of her experience to down lowly ranked Montenegrin opponent Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-3.
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The 40-year-old fell behind a break early but grew into the game on the back of her fine serving, taking the first set 6-3 in 55 minutes. Feeding off the energy of the crowd she stormed to victory by the same score in the second set to set up a second round showdown with world No.2 Anett Kontaveit.
Williams, a sporting and cultural icon, won the first of her Grand Slam titles at the same venue in 1999 as a 17-year-old prodigy.
In Monday’s sold-out night session, Williams was back in one of her favorite arenas wearing a typically flamboyant outfit.
According to the New York Times, Williams is wearing a sparkling black bodice with a skirt comprised of six layers — one for every US Open title she has won. She’s also sporting custom made, diamond-encrusted shoes.
In her last outing before the US Open in Cincinnati earlier this month, she was thumped 6-4, 6-0 by Britain’s Emma Raducanu — who herself was knocked out of the Australian Open by Kovinic in January.
On Saturday, organizers confirmed that she and elder sister Venus Williams had been given a wild card into the women’s doubles tournament, which starts on Wednesday.
Even then it remains unclear whether Williams will definitively call time on her career after her US Open campaign ends.
In an interview with NBC’s Today show on Friday, Williams declined to confirm that she would retire in New York — and would not even rule out playing into 2023.
“I think so, but who knows?” she told NBC when asked if she would retire. But in a post on Instagram on Monday just hours ahead of her first round clash, Williams again signalled the end was nigh.
“Thank you everyone,” she wrote. “It’s been incredible.”
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