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MELBOURNE, Australia - Serena Williams had a slight head cold, the sun was broiling and the wind swirling.
No problem. Not against a player ranked No. 123.
Williams, seeking her 10th Grand Slam title, got her Australian Open campaign under way Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-2 win over China’s Yuan Meng, who was all but ducking for cover from an onslaught of powerful serves, groundstrokes and volleys from the second-seeded American.
And get this: Williams wasn’t even going all out.
“It was a little hot for me today,” said Williams, aiming to keep intact her record of winning here in odd-numbered years since 2003. “But I was able to just take my time and play a lot slower, not giving 1,000 percent.
“I think it was pretty important for me not to ... go crazy out there, try and conserve some energy. Keep in mind, I am playing doubles here, as well. I definitely want to do well in both events.”
That would be doubles with sister Venus — the reining Wimbledon champion — who overcame a lapse against hard-hitting Angelique Kerber of Germany to advance with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
“Ooh! It’s a little hot out here,” Serena Williams said. “It was definitely extreme conditions.”
The swirling, gusty wind didn’t help either.
Yuan, who had only won two matches in eight Grand Slam appearances, never gave up, but was simply overpowered by Williams, who was bashing anything within reach as hard as she could, punctuating her swings with grunts of effort.
A cool front came through and conditions were a pleasant 79 degrees by the time sixth-seeded Venus went on court. It turned into essentially a good hitting session for her.
“I was really happy to be able to be out there and hit a lot of balls and find a rhythm and advance,” she said.
Williams rushed to a 5-0 lead in the first set before Kerber’s go-for-broke style started working. She broke Williams, then fended off three set points, before Williams finished off the set with her fifth ace.
Kerber broke again to pull ahead 3-1. It was the last game she won as Williams started catching the lines again.
Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva beat Germany’s Kristina Barrois 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-1. Also advancing were No. 13 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo of France and No. 22 Zheng Jie of China.
No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland became the highest seeded player to be ousted, falling to Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko.
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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
