Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Serena and Venus Williams opened the 2021 Australian Open in dominant fashion on Monday, each delivering victories in straight sets in the tournament's opening round in Melbourne.
Serena, 39, dispatched Laura Siegemund 6-1, 6-1 at Rod Laver Arena. The 23-time Grand Slam champion had four aces, 16 winners and won six break points in the 56-minute match.
Venus, 40, beat Kirsten Flipkens 7-5, 6-2 at Margaret Court Arena. She fired three aces, 10 winners and won four break points. The seven-time Grand Slam champion defeated Flipkens in one hour and 32 minutes.
"I was happy just to get through it," Serena, who's won the tournament seven times, told reporters after the match. "I wasn't sure how my serve would be after a little bit of that shoulder [injury], but it's feeling good."
Venus, ranked No. 81 in the world and a two-time Australian Open winner, next faces Italian Sara Errani in the second round and Serena, 11th in the WTA rankings and the tournament's No. 10 seed, will battle Serbian Nina Stojanovic.
No. 2 Simona Halep, No. 3 Naomi Osaka, No. 9 Bianca Andreescu, No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 8 Petra Kvitova also won their first-round matches Monday.
On the men's side, No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 3 Dominic Thiem, No. 7 Alexander Zverev and No. 9 Diego Schwartzman advanced in their opening round matches.
Djokovic is the defending men's singles champion and American Sofia Kenin, the No. 4 seed at this year's tournament, won the Australian Open a year ago.
The 2021 women's singles final is on Feb. 20. The men's singles final is scheduled for Feb. 21.
Six-time Australian Open winner Roger Federer, No. 5 in the ATP rankings, withdrew due to a knee injury.
