The ITF's Katrina Adams stays on the front lines for women with the Tory Burch Foundation Sports Fellowship

With 23 career Grand Slam titles—the most for any player in the Open Era, male or female—Serena Williams is probably the greatest closer in tennis. But she’s a phenomenal starter, too.

With her 7-6 (6), 6-2 win over former No. 22 Irina-Camelia Begu in the first-ever Roland Garros night session on Monday night, Serena improved to 77-1 in her career in first-round matches at majors.

The only blemish is a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 loss to Virginie Razzano in the first round of Roland Garros back in 2012, and she almost won that one, too—she was up 5-1 in the second set tie-break.

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How about that? 😍@serenawilliams is one step closer to equaling Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. Williams advances to the second round, 7-6(6), 6-2#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/N6baI0Syar
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) May 31, 2021

After her win over Begu, she was asked about playing the historic first night match in Paris.

“Overall, yeah, ironically enough, night sessions are not my favorite matches, but I do have a good record at it. Clearly something about it gets me hyped,” the three-time Roland Garros winner said.

“It was pretty cool to be able to play the first night session ever here at Roland Garros.”

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Stat of the Day: Serena Williams now 77-1 in first-round matches at Grand Slams

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