Serena off to a winning start

Defending champion Williams began her quest for a fourth US Open crown by cruising to victory over Alexa Glatch.

Second seed Williams, who has won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, took 62 minutes to complete a straightforward 6-4 6-1 win over the wild card entry at Arthur Ashe Stadium to ease into the second round.

And a decade after winning the US Open as a teenager Williams is looking to recreate the approach that brought the first of 11 grand slam titles.

"Ten years ago I definitely wasn't a favourite," Williams said.

"I felt like I had nothing to lose and I like that attitude.

"When you play with that attitude then you can go a really long way. That's how I would like to approach it this year."

An all-Williams sister semi-final is on the cards with number three seed and two-time champion Venus Williams set to begin her campaign in the first night session of the championship against Russian Vera Dushevina.

Serena, though, said thoughts of future opponents or even winning the tournament outright were being kept at arm's length and her second-round match against Hungary's Melinda Czink would be all she would be thinking about.

"I don't think about success," she said.

"I just think about playing a match and just staying focused.

"I just take it one day at a time."

While Serena stays focused on the next round, older sister Venus could be forgiven for keeping a nervous eye on her quarter of the draw where she could face a very difficult fourth-round opponent in former champion Kim Clijsters.

The Belgian wild card brushed aside world number 79 Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine 6-1 6-1 in just under an hour.

The 26-year-old Belgian was playing in New York for the first time since winning the 2005 women's singles title, having retired from tennis in 2006 to start a family.

In just her third tournament back, and with victories over top 20 players Patty Schnyder, Marion Bartoli, Victoria Azarenka and Svetlana Kuznetsova already under her belt, Clijsters needed just 58 minutes to get past Kutuzova to set up a second-round tie with 14th seed Bartoli.

The Frenchwoman, beaten by Clijsters in Cincinnati earlier this month, got past Paraguay's Rossanna de los Rios 6-1 6-0.

"Obviously the girl made a lot of mistakes today but I really felt like I was able to do what I had to do and work on the things that weren't going as well in Cincinnati and Toronto," Clijsters said.

"I really feel like my serve was one of the things that didn't go so well there.

"It was really good today, so that's just a nice improvement.

"Now it's just a matter of trying to keep this going."

Russia's Vera Zvonareva, seeded seven, advanced 6-0 6-4 at the expense of Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives while eighth seed Azarenka of Belarus eased through to round two with a 6-1 6-1 victory over Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru.

Azarenka's potential fourth-round opponent, 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, dispatched Austrian Patricia Mayr 6-1 6-2.

Tenth seed Flavia Pennetta won her opener 6-0 6-4 against Romanian Edina Gallovits while fellow Italian, 26th seed Francesca Schiavone also progressed, defeating Austrian qualifier Yvonne Meusburger 6-1 6-2.

Number 15 Samantha Stosur had to battle to get past Japan's Ai Sugiyama, eventually winning 6-4 4-6 6-4 in a two-hour and 14-minute match while 17th seed Amelie Mauresmo of France also advanced, a 6-3 6-4 winner over German Tatjana Malek.

Anabel Medina Garrigues, the 20th seed from Spain, eliminated American Gail Brodsky 6-4 6-4 but Estonia's Kaia Kanepi became the first women's seed to be knocked out, the 25th seed going down 6-0 2-6 6-2 to qualifier Kai-Chen Chang from Taipei.