Serena Williams defeats Danka Kovinic in opening round of 2022 US Open

Serena Williams will get to stay around a while longer in the final U.S. Open of her historic career. 

With a bevy of celebrities paying tribute Monday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium ranging from former president Bill Clinton to Mike Tyson, the 40-year old Williams dismissed 80th-ranked Danka Kovinic of Montenegro, 6-3, 6-3. Williams, a six-time U.S. Open champion, will face No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit in the second round on Wednesday.

It was impossible to predict what kind of level Williams would be able to produce Monday given how few matches she has played recently and the uniqueness of this occasion, having announced earlier this month that she is transitioning away from tennis to other endeavors. 

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After recovering from a hamstring injury and not playing any tournaments for a full calendar year, Williams came back at Wimbledon and lost in the first round to Harmony Tan. Her subsequent results did not offer much evidence of a deep U.S. Open run with just one win and routine losses to top-20 players Belinda Bencic and Emma Raducanu.

But Williams, dressed in a black Nike dress with sparkling diamond adornments inspired by figure skating outfits, moved and served better against Kovinic than she had in the warm-up tournaments in Cincinnati and Canada. That allowed her to survive a shaky first set and take full control in the second, building confidence against an opponent who struggled with the enormity of the moment. 

Kovinic had the opportunity to take control of the opening set, and in fact momentarily believed she had secured a 4-2 lead. Instead, a mishit backhand return from Williams got a piece of both lines in Kovinic’s forehand corner to keep her alive in the game. That bit of misfortune seemed to rattle Kovinic, who subsequently double faulted twice and did not win another game in the set. 

Williams made more unforced errors than winners (23-to-25) but hit 66 percent of her first serves, making it difficult for Kovinic to get a foothold in the match.