Day One and Venus Rises

Because of the likelihood of me seeing plenty of Serena this tournament it only seemed fair to devote the early Williams viewing to the older sibling and so match one on Day 1 on HiSense Arena featured Venus who I had unsuccessfully attempted to retire in 2011 due to her running battles with illness and injury.  Thankfully her determination and courage forced her back into contention eventually winning a tournament towards the end of 2012 and achieving a ranking within the top 30.
Today's threat to the sisters continuing their double act presented herself in the form of Galina Voskoboeva from Kazakhstan.  The tall right hander ranked 80 has been in the top 50 and did make the third round here last year, although it still feels weird saying last year for 2012.

No expectations for Galina other than 5 ranking points and some free time for the rest of week to ponder what the next tournament might bring.  I suspected we were to be treated to many of the strong forehand winners that have become the trademark of the Venus game over 18 years.
Galina won something today and that was the toss.  She extended that run by taking the first game which included an ace and a couple of winners.  Venus started a bit shakily missing with a few first serves and exposing her often weak second delivery.  However Galina proved incapable of exploiting this and games were 1-1 fairly quickly.
After that it became a procession - once Venus began trusting her ground strokes they took on a far more menacing appearance and something not exactly appreciated by the Kazakhstan player.  Voskoboeva needs a very high first serve percentage because her second serve is about as effective as mine.  Unfortunately this was not to be an occasion for that statistic and Venus jumped all over the many opportunities granted her.
Quickly it became a matter of Venus winning or losing the points as she broke serve twice to lead 4-1.  The few times she struggled on serve did not result in scoreboard returns for Galina because Venus could produce a clutch of big first serves when it mattered most.  In the sixth game she saved her second break point with a huge serve and followed with two aces for the game.
The set belonged to Venus 6-1 and the second went the same direction but for the loss of one less game.  
Galina at least produced her best tennis in set 2 but only in patches and Williams had the capacity to find another level of tennis when requested by her.
Of course Venus will need to be more consistent as she faces better credentialed opponents.  For now though she made her sister and most of the rest of the crowd happy with the 6-1 6-0 victory.