NEW YORK -- Serena Williams' serve was in fine form in a routine first-round victory Tuesday over Ekaterina Makarova at the U.S. Open.
The top-seeded Williams had played just three singles matches since Wimbledon because of a sore right shoulder, but it didn't show as she hit 12 aces, with only one double-fault, in a 6-3, 6-3 victory in 63 minutes.
It was a potentially tricky draw for Williams as she opened her bid for a record 23rd major title. Makarova is a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist who just missed a seed.
Williams' first serve averaged 108 mph, and she hit one as hard as 121 mph.
Earlier, Williams' sister Venus got through a tougher-than-expected 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory against Kateryna Kozlova.
"It was great to be challenged and to be pushed," said Venus, 36, a two-time U.S. Open champion, "because I had to get in those situations that you know you're going to face in the tournament."
There were various upsets around the grounds during the afternoon, including 19-year-old American Jared Donaldson's 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-0 elimination of 12th-seeded David Goffin, and a loss by No. 29 Sam Querrey, who stunned Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. Three seeded women departed, including former No. 1 and 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.
Possibly the most interesting upset of the day was that of Eugenie Bouchard.
A year ago at Flushing Meadows, Bouchard got a concussion from a fall at the facility and withdrew before playing in the fourth round, and then missed most of the rest of the season. She filed suit against the U.S. Tennis Association in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn in October, and that case is still pending, putting the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up in the odd position of competing this week at an event whose organizers she is suing.
"If I sit down and think about it, yeah, it's definitely a strange situation. But it's something that's so far in the back of my mind. I don't think about it on a daily basis, at all. I have people, lawyers, working on that side of it," Bouchard said. "So it's really not something I think about much at all. Obviously, being here, it's crossed my mind. But besides that, I mean, it has nothing to do with my day-to-day life."
Her 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 exit against 72nd-ranked Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, a player who only once has been as far as the third round at a major tournament, was filled with 46 unforced errors by Bouchard, who also was treated for blisters on her feet. It represented the latest early loss for the 22-year-old Canadian who reached three Grand Slam semifinals two years ago -- and none since.
When she was at her peak, and a seeded player, an early major loss by Bouchard was rather newsworthy. Her up-and-down 2015 and 2016 have changed that, in part because she is ranked only 39th now, after a best of No. 5.
She lost 14 of 17 matches leading into the 2015 U.S. Open but, after working a bit with Jimmy Connors, appeared to be back on the upswing in New York by reaching the fourth round. Then came her slip-and-tumble and the concussion diagnosis, and she pulled out of what would have been a matchup against eventual runner-up Roberta Vinci.
It took her until January to return to the tour full-time.
"I didn't feel like, on the court, I was back to where I was," Bouchard said Tuesday, meaning that her level of play wasn't at its peak at the start of 2016. "But physically, since the beginning of the year, I've been feeling good."
USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said the organization would not comment on the "substance" of litigation.
Bouchard's coach, Nick Saviano, was asked whether her ability to play tennis Tuesday had been affected at all by any possible distractions created by the lawsuit.
"I can't really speak to that," Saviano said. "She was in a good frame of mind coming in. She went out, she was ready to play, and the other girl played well."
Sports on 08/31/2016