Beijing, China (SportsNetwork.com) - U.S. Open champion Serena Williams had to overcome a slow start Monday to post a first-round victory at the $5.4 million China Open.
The world No. 1 great defeated Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa 7-5, 6-2 on the hardcourts at Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center.
Williams, who won her 18th Grand Slam singles title in New York earlier this month, started sluggishly on Monday and found herself 0-5 and 15-40 down to the qualifier Soler Espinosa.
But the American superstar saved four set points in a brilliant comeback to prevail in straight sets.
It was Williams' first outing since retiring in the first set of her opening match against Alize Cornet in Wuhan, China, last week because of an illness.
Williams beat Jelena Jankovic for last year's Beijing title and also captured this tournament in 2004.
Her second-round opponent on Tuesday will be Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.
A pair of former world No. 1s from Serbia had different results on Day 3, as ninth-seeded Ana Ivanovic whipped promising Swiss Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-1, while France's Alize Cornet dismissed a 10th-seeded Jankovic 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Jankovic captured this title in 2008 and was the runner-up in 2007.
In other action involving seeds, No. 13 Czech Lucie Safarova beat Italian Camila Giorgi 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 and No. 14 Italian Flavia Pennetta dismissed American Christina McHale 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.
Additional wins came for Pironkova, American Lauren Davis, German Mona Barthel, Chinese Peng Shuai, and France's Caroline Garcia.
In addition to Serena Williams, several other stars will take to the courts for second-rounders on Tuesday, including second-seeded French Open runner-up Simona Halep, fourth-seeded French Open champ and 2012 Beijing runner-up Maria Sharapova, fifth-seeded 2011 Beijing titlist and 2009 runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska, eighth-seeded Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard, Ivanovic and 16th-seeded former No. 1 Venus Williams, who will take on Garcia. Bouchard was last week's Wuhan, China, runner-up to Czech Petra Kvitova.
