Serena, 15-time Grand Slam champion, opened her 2013 season yesterday, and she needed less than an hour to beat fellow American Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of the Brisbane International.
Serena won 31 of her last 32 matches during the 2012 season, including titles at Wimbledon, the Olympics, the U.S. Open and the WTA Championships. She was 58-4 overall.
‘’Tomorrow is the last day of the year, so technically I still had my 2012 rep on the line,’’ she said. ‘’I really needed to win today so I could finish the year with still just the four losses. So that was important for me.’’
The third-ranked Serena didn’t show any signs of the minor surgery on her big toes that forced her to withdraw from an exhibition in Thailand. She moved freely throughout the match against the 21st-ranked Lepchenko.
Meanwhile, Venus gave her comeback hopes a boost with a win at the Hopman Cup in Perth yesterday, and said she still believed she could be a force in the Grand Slams.
The former world number one beat Chanelle Scheepers in three sets to help the United States post a 2-1 win over South Africa in their Group B tie at the mixed teams tournament.
Venus, playing for the first time since October and just 24 hours after arriving in Australia, made a slow start against the 60th-ranked Scheepers but steadied to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The seven-time Grand Slam singles winner has climbed the rankings this year as she recovered from a major setback due to illness in 2011.
Venus has not won a Grand Slam singles title since her 2008 success at Wimbledon. She slipped to 134th in the rankings last year after suffering from Sjogren’s Syndrome, a systemic autoimmune disease.
However, the 32-year-old has enjoyed much better fortunes this year.
She won her first singles title since 2010 in Luxembourg, teamed with sister Serena to win gold in the doubles at the London Olympics and finished the season ranked 24th in the world.
Speaking after hitting 44 winners in disposing of Scheepers, Venus said this year was a great platform for the coming 12 months.
“Last year was so awesome for me, winning a tournament and getting to the Olympics and getting a gold,” she said. “I was extremely happy last year and moved up quite a few spots.
“This year is just about building on it and continuing to play deep into the draws and put myself in positions to play well deep into the tournaments.”
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