By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Serena Williams dropped just five points on serve and surged through the final 10 games dismissing Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-2, 6-0.
Photo credit: AP
Wearing blue headphones, Serena Williams tuned in to a musical muse before stepping out onto Philippe Chatrier Court.
It didn't take the world No. 1 long to pump up the volume on her shots and pull the plug on Magdalena Rybarikova.
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Williams launched her Roland Garros defense tearing through 10 straight games obliterating the 77th-ranked Slovak, 6-2, 6-0, in a mere 42 minutes.
It was Williams' 16th victory in her last 17 French Open matches.
"It was a good first day," Williams told Tennis Channel's Jon Wertheim afterward. "I don't think she was 100 percent, to be fair, but I really applaud her for coming out and doing the best she could."
A left wrist injury limited Rybarikova to one tournament since Indian Wells. She took the court wearing a soft white cast around her left wrist and was immediately disarmed by Williams' power.
On a day in which Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka both suffered painful losses, Williams was in no mood for drama.
The three-time Roland Garros champion won eight of the first 10 points bursting out to a 2-0 lead.
Knowing she was in no condition to play extended rallies against the 21-time Grand Slam champion, Rybarikova tried to mix it up playing angled drop shots to shorten points. That tactic helped her level at 2-all.
That was the last game Rybarikova won.
Williams came right back to break on the Slovak's scattered backhand. Then the top seed amped up the aggression powering through a love hold to extend to 5-2.
When Rybarikova missed a forehand down the line, Williams walked to her court-side seat holding a one-set lead after just 23 minutes of play.
Stepping into the court to take the ball on the rise, Williams broke for a 2-0 second-set lead. The Rome champion's serve set the tone today: She dropped just five points on serve.
A side-spinning forehand winner followed by a swerving ace down the T stretched the lead to 4-0.
Rybarikova banged back-to-back aces to save break points in the fourth game but followed it up with a double fault. Williams slashed a backhand winner into the corner —her eighth straight game —breaking for 4-0.
When Rybarikova stuck a running backhand into net, Williams raised her record in Grand Slam first-rounders to 62-1 with her lone loss coming to 111th-ranked Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano in a three hour, three-minute French Open first-round meltdown in 2012.
That seems like a long time ago as Williams, who owns an apartment in Paris, looked comfortable and confident today.