ROME(AP) Serena and Venus Williams ended lengthy breaks for knee problems with straight-sets victories over Swiss players in their opening matches at the Italian Open.
Top-ranked Serena defeated Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (2), 6-1 on Tuesday in her first match since winning the Australian Open more than three months ago.
Fourth-ranked Venus handled veteran Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-2.
Serena was down 4-1 and saved three set points at 5-4 before going to a tiebreaker against Bacsinszky. After dominating the breaker, she ran off the next four games to secure the match.