Serena Williams breezes through first round of the US Open

Serena Williams was in fine form as she began her US Open campaign with a 6-1 6-1 victory over fellow American Coco Vandeweghe.

The fourth seed went into the tournament as the title favourite and that will certainly not have changed after this performance, although she was not given much of a test.

Vandeweghe struggled with the breezy conditions, especially on her serve, sending down six double faults and only holding serve once in the whole match.

That came at the start of the second set, with her sole game of the opening set coming when she broke Williams after losing the first four games.

Williams, who lost to Sam Stosur in the final last year, has had a brilliant summer, winning her fifth Wimbledon title and then adding Olympic gold in both the singles and doubles at the All England Club earlier this month.

In the second round the 30-year-old will play Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who she has beaten in all three of their previous meetings.

Williams felt the windy conditions dictated the nature of the match.

She said: "It was blowing a lot at the Olympics. I think this may have been more than the Olympics. I usually gauge the wind by my hair. If it's really going forward I'm thinking it's really windy.

"The match was so weird, the conditions were so tough. I couldn't really play my game. She couldn't really play her game."

PA