Venus Williams made a winning return to Dubai, skipping past Russia’s Elena Vesnina to extend her winning streak in the UAE to 11 matches.
Illness and injury prevented the American former world No1 from playing in Dubai since she won back-to-back titles here in 2009 and 2010, and Williams was happy she got a win on her first time back at the Aviation Club.
“Just to have a chance to come is exciting for me,” Williams said after her 6-3, 6-2 win over Vesnina. “I feel like out of all of the people in the draw I’m the one that has my eyes widest open. There is maybe a couple other players like (Alisa) Kleybanova who can maybe have a similar perspective.”
The 33-year-old is referring to her ongoing battle with the energy-sapping auto-immune disease Sjogren’s Syndrome.
Williams dropped outside the top-100 following her diagnosis three years ago and has been finding her way back ever since, now climbing to No44 in the latest rankings. She refers to Kleybanova, a cancer survivor, as someone who can relate to what she has been through.
Williams is coming off a decent week in Doha where she cruised past Petra Martic before falling to world No6 Petra Kvitova in a third set tiebreak.
Next she will face No6 seed Angelique Kerber or Ana Ivanovic in the second round and she says that getting matches under her belt is the main priority right now.
“I think the more matches I’ll play, the better I will feel in moments where I’m controlling the match, the better I will feel in moments where things are close,” said Williams. “I feel like I have just gotten a little rusty sometimes in those areas.”
Meanwhile, Kleybanova put up a good fight before losing to Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-7, 6-4. Makarova faces Serena Williams in the next round, a player the Russian beat at the Australian Open two years ago.
The last match on centre court was won by Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, who set up a rematch of her second round last year against Sara Errani, after defeating Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-3.
Earlier in the day, Eugenie Bouchard missed out on a spot in the main draw by losing to Annika Beck 6-1, 6-4.