Top seed Serena Williams took the express route into the Wimbledon second round with a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of fellow American Anna Tatishvili yesterday.
Williams, bidding for a sixth Wimbledon singles crown, was playing for the first time since her embarrassing French Open second-round exit against Garbine Muguruza and the world No1 needed only 61 minutes on Centre Court to erase the bitter taste of that defeat.
Blitzing the Georgian-born world No113 with 31 winners and 16 aces, Serena, a 17-time Grand Slam champion, raced through to a meeting with American Christina McHale or South Africa's Chanelle Scheepers for a place in the last 32.
Serena admitted she had struggled a little with the slick grasscourt, occasionally losing her footing and suffering a few bumps and bruises.
Asked how she felt, the American said: "I think I'll be okay. I'll see tomorrow. It was weird. I fell so many times.
"It's probably just getting my bearings; I didn't play much grass-court tennis last year."
Given her difficulties adapting to the grass, Serena admitted she was happy to have seen off a hard-hitting opponent with few alarms.
"Last time I played Anna she finished the match so tough and she started off where that one ended," she said.
"She can hit really hard and I was ready for that."
The 32-year-old, who has now lost only one of her 56 first-round Grand Slam matches, would become the second-oldest woman to win Wimbledon if she lifts the Venus Rosewater dish this year, behind only Martina Navratilova, who won the title in 1990 aged 33.
Williams, who last won Wimbledon in 2012, looks in the mood to do exactly that on the evidence of a dominant display inspired by a desire to avoid repeats of those frustrating early exits from this year's Grand Slams in Australia and Paris.
She celebrated the win by saluting the crowd for their warm reception on her first appearance at Wimbledon since last year's surprise fourth-round defeat against Sabine Lisicki.
Lisicki opened her Wimbledon campaign with an emphatic victory against Israel's Julia Glushko, proving she was worthy of opening play on Centre Court and helping to erase memories of her meltdown in last year's final.
Opening proceedings on the main show court on the second day of the tournament, known as Ladies Day, is usually reserved for the previous year's champion, but Marion Bartoli has now retired from the game.
Handed the honour of acting as Bartoli's stand-in, Lisicki could have been forgiven for feeling nervous on her return to the scene of her straight-sets defeat in her first grand slam final.
A smiling Lisicki, however, appeared at ease right from the coin toss ceremony overseen by Bartoli and the world No19 wasted no time seeing off Glushko 6-2 6-1 in less than an hour.
Lisicki said she felt at home playing on the Wimbledon grass again, shrugging off thoughts of her mid-match tears in last year's final.
It was her victorious opponent that day who was overcome by emotion on her brief appearance before yesterday's match.
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