Winning start for Serena

Williams: Comfortable win

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Serena Williams made a confident start to her bid for a third US Open title with a 6-1 6-4 win over Kateryna Bondarenko.

Williams, the champion at Flushing Meadows in 1999 and 2002, hit 27 winners and made just 11 unforced errors as she powered into the second round.

The fourth seed needed only 19 minutes to breeze through the opening set and broke her opponent's serve in the 10th game of the second set to seal her win.

Williams will face either Elena Vesnina of Russia or Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko in round two.

Safina through

Sixth seed Dinara Safina is safely through to the second round of the US Open after a 6-3 6-4 win over Kristie Ahn.

Safina showed off her range of aggressive groundstrokes and used her thundering serve to good effect to bring a swift end to Ahn's debut Grand Slam.

The 16-year-old, ranked 758 in the world, was the youngest woman in the main draw.

Olympic silver medallist Safina will meet Italian qualifier Roberta Vinci in the next round.

Daniela Hantuchova's comeback after a foot injury ended quickly with defeat to German qualifier Anna-Lena Groenefeld in her first round match.

The 11th seed from Slovakia was swept aside in just 71 minutes as she failed to find her range.

"I really didn't get the chance to get into the match," Hantuchova said. "She was serving incredibly well and her first serves were around 125 (mph) which gave me no chance. I felt I was always under pressure."

The Slovakian said she had not fully recovered from the foot injury which kept her out of action for two months in the build-up to this year's Wimbledon.

"I don't feel 100 per cent fit," she added. "The foot feels much better but I lost the feeling of playing and that takes time to get back."