Serena Williams back in action with win at Swedish Open
Thursday 16 July 2015 13:22, UK
Serena Williams became the first player to reach 40 match wins in 2015 by beating Ysaline Bonaventure in straight sets in under an hour at the Collector Swedish Open in Bastad on Wednesday.
Belgian Bonaventure, a 215th-ranked qualifier, gave the newly-crowned Wimbledon champion some trouble with her left-handed serve but the top seed had too much firepower and cruised to a 6-2 6-1 victory in just 53 minutes.
It is the second-fastest Williams has ever reached 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.
Awaiting Williams in the second round is Klara Koukalova. The Czech player has a win over Williams, and it is on clay - in Marbella in 2009. In their next meeting just a few weeks later that year, she pushed Williams to three sets at the French Open.
Williams leads Koukalova 4-1 in the overall head-to-head, which includes 3-1 on clay.
The only other first-round match saw seventh seed and home hope Johanna Larsson beat Richel Hogenkamp 6-1 6-3.
The first three second-round matches also took place on Wednesday and there was a big surprise as Spanish WTA Rising Star Lara Arruabarrena rallied from 4-2 down to take a lengthy 57-minute first set and then totally outplayed second seed Samantha Stosur for a 7-6 (7-5) 6-0 win.
Jana Cepelova and Mona Barthel joined Arruabarrena in the quarter-finals after successes.
