Williams hits her zone at midnight

Written by: Staff on 17th January 2012

Williams hits her zone at midnight |

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by Alexandra Willis

Williams Hits Her Zone At Midnight

If there was one person perhaps more desperate than every Australian inside Rod Laver Arena for Lleyton Hewitt to carry the momentum of his first two sets against Cedrik-Marcel Stebe into the third, it was Serena Williams.

The five-time women’s champion was kept busy tapping her feet in the women’s locker room, waiting for Hewitt and Stebe to clear off the court and allow her to hit her first competitive ball at Melbourne Park since she stood clutching the Daphne Akhurst trophy at the end of January 2010.

A fly on the wall must have got a little bit of a shock when Stebe took the third and went up in the fourth, sending the match towards what seemed an inevitable fifth. But luckily for the two gentlemen, Serena confessed that evenings are her time of day.

“I’m definitely a night owl, I can stay up all night,” she told the crowd. “I really don’t like mornings, but I don’t mind them, during a tournament only though.”

Whether the late hour did bother her or not, Serena seemed determined not to waste any seconds as she and opponent Tamira Paszek eventually began their warm-up at 11.30pm.

Taking just three minutes to blister through her first service game, a midnight blue dress concealing the six-pack we’ve seen so much of in the past few days, there was only ever going to be one result.

“I think I was a wee bit tight out there today. I always get a little nervous in my first-round matches. I definitely didn’t play any way that I practised. So hopefully I can get better,” Williams said after her win.

“Physically I felt fine. I was definitely moving better than, you know, I suspected. I still think I can move better, though, and just get that confidence. It would be great.”

To Paszek’s credit, an Austrian who if not exactly fleet of foot can certainly put some whack behind the ball, she kept with the former world No.1 for the first 40 minutes of their first-round face-off, Serena eventually manufacturing the break at 3-3.

Serving out the set with 20 winners to her name to Paszek’s more meagre five, Serena drew a few deep breaths as she sat down in her chair at the changeover.

Was she at the level she discovered last summer, when she went on a hardcourt tear through Stanford, Montreal and the US Open? Not quite yet, one would suggest.

But considering she rolled her ankle barely 14 days ago, it was not bad at all. She moved well within herself, and hit well within herself, essentially doing what was needed and not too much more.

Paszek’s one glimmer of brilliance was a full-stretch squash shot which bounced on and over the net to save a break point in the opening game of the second set, before Serena opened the throttle, breaking twice for a 6-4, 6-2 win.

“Thank you guys, I really appreciate you guys staying,” she told the crowd afterwards as the clock ticked towards 1am. “I haven’t been here in over a year so I was a little nervous today, so thank you for getting me through it.”

If it was not exactly a vintage Serena start to the tournament, the result maintains the 30-year-old’s record of never losing a first-round match in the 46 Grand Slam events she’s contested.

And as we all know, that means she can only get better. Always a scary thought.

Topics: Australian Champion, Serena Williams