Serena eases ominously into second round

New York: Serena Williams launched her bid for a third US Open title with a ruthless 6-1 6-4 demolition of Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round on Tuesday.

The fourth-seeded American delivered a typically muscular display of power serving and searing groundstrokes to wrap up victory in just under an hour on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

US Open champion in 1999 and 2002 and runner-up to her sister Venus in 2001, Serena breezed through the opening set in just 19 minutes before breaking her opponent in the 10th game of the second to seal the win.

"I'm feeling great," a smiling Serena told reporters after unleashing six aces in a total of 27 winners.

"I'm feeling confident and I feel like I'm just really, really, really enjoying myself. "I've been feeling good about my serve for a long time now. It's definitely one of my strongest shots and today it was there again."

A winner of three titles this season, Serena was delighted to maintain the form she displayed with her sister en route to their second Olympic doubles crown in Beijing.

"I was doing a lot of the things well to the Olympics and I was really confident coming in here," the 26-year-old said.

Wide Open

Although the shock retirement in May of last year's champion Justine Henin has left the US Open women's draw wide open, Serena played down her status as one of the leading contenders.

"To me it doesn't matter who's in the draw," said the American, who lost to Belgian Henin in the 2007 quarter-finals.

"I always come to a tournament trying to do my best and I never look at anyone else as like they're favourites to win."

Asked why she had failed to contend at the last six US Opens, Serena replied: "Because I keep losing matches I shouldn't lose.

"One year I really ran into a lot of bad luck where I got the worst calls possible. I couldn't even hit a shot because I was so nervous they would call every ball out," Serena added referring to the controversial 2004 quarter-final against Jennifer Capriati.

"That really wasn't my fault. I probably would have won that year and I was gonna win that year.

Unfortunately it didn't work out." "I didn't even remember holding up the trophy (in 2002).I didn't even know I won this tournament, that's how long it's been." Serena, who is seeded to meet her sister in the quarter-finals, will next meet either Russian Elena Vesnina or Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine.