Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic win Cincinnati openers

MASON (Ohio) — Serena Williams pumped her fist after each important point and screamed as she smacked another emphatic shot. The defending Cincinnati champion wasn’t going to ease into the tournament.

Williams put a lot of emotion into her opening match at the Western & Southern Open this morning (Aug 20, Singapore time), a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova that made her the first of the top seeds to advance.

Novak Djokovic won his rain-delayed opening match, beating Benoit Paire 7-5, 6-2 in 1 hour, 39 minutes.

Williams won the Cincinnati tournament for the first time last year, getting one of the few titles that had eluded her. This year, she’s using it as a final tuneup for the US Open, where she’ll be the focus as she tries to complete a rare Grand Slam sweep.

For her, this week is about getting her game ready to take a swing at history.

“I think it could be a lot better,” she said. “It’s not where I would want it ideally, but, you know, I’m going to have to fix that more mentally than anything. I think once I lock in there I will be OK.”

She’s already starting to get locked in on New York by limiting her responsibilities away from the court.

“I’m really trying to stay away from stress and stay away from press,” Williams said. “But, you know, that’s a little difficult.

“I don’t necessarily want to hear about, `Oh, this history and that history’, because I just want to be able to do the best that I can. I want to be able to win and I don’t want any distractions. That’s how I’m going to handle it.”

The top-ranked Williams was coming off a loss to Belinda Bencic on Saturday night (Aug 15) in Toronto in the Rogers Cup semifinals.

The start of the day’s matches was delayed 35 minutes because of rain, which fell again shortly after Williams completed her win.

Her sister, Venus, dropped out of the tournament Tuesday night with an illness. Maria Sharapova also dropped out with a lingering injury to her right leg. AP