Serena Williams, on Wednesday, became the first player to achieve a 40-match win in a year at the Swedish Open in Bastad, beating Ysaline Bonaventure in straight sets.
The match lasted 53 minutes.
Bonaventure, a number 215-ranked Belgian qualifier, gave Williams some trouble with her lefty serve, holding three times, but the number one-seeded American just had too much firepower and cruised 6-2, 6-1.
This is the second-fastest Williams has ever gotten to 40 match wins, her fastest coming in 2013, when she got to 40 by winning her fourth round match at the French Open against Roberta Vinci.
“I had never played her before so I didn’t know what to expect,” Williams said. “And she had a really big serve and some really good holds – she played really well. It definitely wasn’t an easy match.”
Overall, Williams was very happy with her first match back on clay after winning Wimbledon on grass.
“It’s just so much easier to go from grass to clay than from clay to grass,” the World No 1 said.
“It’s really not bad. I’m getting used to it. It’s worse the other way around!”
Awaiting Williams in the second round could be more trouble, though, in Klara Koukalova. Koukalova has a win over Williams, and it’s on clay – at Marbella in 2009. And in their next meeting just a few weeks later that year, the Czech pushed Williams to three marathon sets at the French Open.
“She’s beaten me before. I played her once at the French Open too, we had a long three set match – it was actually a two day match,” Williams said. “She’s never fun to play, so it’ll be a good match.”
Williams leads Koukalova in the overall head-to-head, 4-1, which includes 3-1 on clay.
