Serena Williams through easily in first Australian Open tuneup

MELBOURNE: Serena Williams restarted her lengthy quest for a 24th Grand Slam singles title with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Daria Gavrilova in an Australian Open tuneup tournament at Melbourne Park on Monday.

Williams has been stalled on 23 major singles titles since the 2017 Australian Open, when she was two months’ pregnant with now-three-year-old daughter Olympia and when she beat her sister Venus in the final.

A 24th singles major would equal Margaret Court’s Grand Slam total, but some of Court’s wins came before the professional era.

Williams clinched the match with a blistering forehand to the open court on her first match point.

“I was somewhat focused, in the zone, I guess," Williams said in a post-match TV interview. “I am looking forward to the upcoming days."

Earlier, Coco Gauff didn’t make it easy on herself. The 16-year-old American was up a service break in the second set and looked ready for straight-sets win until Jil Teichmann won the second-set tiebreaker. The players then went to a deciding-set tiebreaker before Gauff won 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5) at the WTA’s Gippsland Trophy.

“All the training I did in the off-season meant that I could go three tough sets,“ Gauff said on court after the match.

In another match at the same tournament, Australian Destanee Aiava beat Chloe Paquet 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 after saving 14 of 15 break points.