1st January, 2013
Serena Williams stamped her authority on the Brisbane International on Tuesday when she crushed Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-2.
On a day that saw second seed Maria Sharapova withdraw with an injured collarbone and fifth and sixth seeds Sara Errani and Petra Kvitova bundled out, Williams was all business as she disposed of Cornet in exactly one hour.
The 15-times Grand Slam winner broke Cornet in the first game of the match and was never troubled after that, as she broke the Frenchwoman once more in the first set and twice in the second for a comprehensive victory.
Williams had far too much firepower for Cornet, hitting 25 winners to four including six aces. One in the second set was clocked at 200 kmh (125 mph).
The third-seeded American stepped up a gear from her opening-round win over fellow countrywoman Varvara Lepchenko.
“She’s (Cornet) a former top 15 player and we’ve had a tough three-set match before so I knew I had to play really well,” she said.
“I tried to be more aggressive and tried to be more consistent.”
Sharapova was earlier forced to withdraw with a right collarbone injury.
The Russian world number two sent scans of her injury to her doctor in New York, who advised her not to do any overhead training for at least a week.
“So to be fair I haven’t really given myself a chance to pretty much hit any serves or anything over my head, I’ve just been practising groundstrokes. So I just kind of ran out of time here,” she said.
It is the second year in a row that Sharapova has withdrawn from the tournament without playing a shot.