Venus joins Serena in Australian Open

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Venus Williams of the US hits a return during her victory over Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in their women's singles first round match of the Australian Open tournament in Melbourne.

MELBOURNE, Jan 19 (AFP): Venus Williams warmed-up for another tilt at the elusive Australian Open title Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-2 first round thrashing of Czech Lucie Safarova.
Safarova was expected to provide a tough opening challenge but the tall American was in imperious form as she raced to an easy win in just 72 minutes, 60 seconds faster than sister Serena took to beat Urszula Radwanska earlier.
"I was playing a really talented player -- everyone knows how well Lucie can hit the ball," Williams said.
"She definitely gets a lot of pace, and she's left-handed. We've had some tough matches in the past.
"I just wanted to stay focused and execute my game -- a great way to start."
Williams, whose best finish at the Australian Open was runner-up to Serena in 2003, looked in great shape physically as she broke Safarova twice in the first set and three times in the second.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion returned brilliantly throughout, putting enormous pressure on Safarova's second serve, which crumbled badly as a result.
And although Williams' first serve misfired badly with only a 47 percent success rate, Safarova only had five break point chances in the match, converting just one of those.
The sixth seed has kept a low profile heading into the 2010 tournament with most of the attention going to Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.