Serena Williams storms into Australian Open second round with victory over Anastasia Potapova

Joe Krishnan20 January 2020

Serena Williams sent a title warning to her rivals with a crushing victory over Anastasia Potapova to reach the Australian Open second round.

The 37-year-old was in devastating form in the first set, leaving the Russian looking frustrated on court after wrapping up a bagel inside 19 minutes.

Despite some fight from the young 18-year-old in the second set, it would prove to be a harsh lesson as Williams recorded a 6-0, 6-3 victory three minutes shy of an hour on court.

Chasing a 24th Grand Slam title which would equal Margaret Court's long-standing record, Williams looked in the mood early on and caught her Russian opponent napping.

Indeed, even by her lofty standards, the American star would probably not have expected to be so dominant but her power and variety in her shots were too much for Potapova to handle.

The teenager was visibly irked by her inability to keep her shots in, shouting towards her box on a number of occasions.

Potapova managed to find an unlikely break in the second set to go 2-1 up, but Williams roared back, winning four of the next five games to complete an easy victory.

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