Serena Williams Seeks 24th Major Title At French Open, Beats Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko In Round 1 [VIDEO]

Serena Williams is back in competition, this time for the French Open, seeking her 24th major singles title. The 37-year-old 10th seed faced off against 83-ranked Russian Vitalia Diatchenko on Monday during the start of Roland Garros.

Diatchenko won the first series 6-2, but Williams countered back to win the last two sets in two dominant 6-1 and 6-0 performances. 

Williams hasn’t won a trophy since the 2017 Australian Open, before her 13 month maternity leave. She has played just nine matches in 2019, after battling a continuous knee injury that has kept her out of multiple tournaments. Williams has been wearing a knee brace in practices.

Williams will face Kurumi Nara on Thursday. Nara has climbed through the qualifiers in multiple close matches, including a victory (7-5, 5-7, 6-3) against 107-ranked Dalila Jakupovic. Nara is causing a stir inside the tournament this year, upsetting Jakupovic, but is in for a tough matchup this Thursday against veteran champion Williams. 

Ahead of Nara, Williams could face the likes of Bianca Andreescu, the 22nd seed. Williams has nice layout for herself this tournament. If she were to beat Nara and Andreescu, she could possibly face No. 8-seeded Australian national, Ashleigh Barty, who Williams defeated in this competition last year in the second round.

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It could get tough for Williams in the quarterfinals, however, as she will most likely face No. 1-seed Naomi Osaka, a young Japanese international. Osaka defeated Williams in last year’s U.S. Open. 

Williams is currently in second for most singles titles (23), just one under Australian legend Margaret Court with 24. 

Williams also recently defended her longtime sponsor Nike, which some female athletes criticized for cutting sponsorship payments around the time of pregnancy.

Article by Tyler Pence

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