NORTH CAROLINA: Former world number one Venus Williams moved through the first round of the Cincinnati Masters when she defeated compatriot Lauren Davis in straight sets on Monday.
Wild card Williams won 7-5 6-2 on centre court as she maintained her streak of never having lost a set to Davis, having beaten her four times.
Williams fended off seven of the eight break points she faced, and won 61% of points when returning the Davis second serve.
Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva and Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich earlier won three set matches.
Putintseva defeated Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2 7-6(3) 6-3 and Sasnovich beat Astra Sharma of Australia 6-1 4-6 6-1.