Serena Williams began the defence of her US Open title with a crushing 6-0 6-1 win over Francesca Schiavone.
American Williams swept past the Italian in only an hour, conceding just six points in the first set.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal, the 2010 champion and number two seed, eased past American Ryan Harrison 6-4 6-2 6-2.
Having missed last year’s tournament with a knee injury, this was Nadal’s first US Open match since his final defeat to Novak Djokovic in 2011.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) [3] bt Silvia Soler-Espinosa (Spa) 6-1 6-2
Venus Williams (USA) bt Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) [12] 6-1 6-2
Venus Williams, the champion at Flushing Meadows in 2000 and 2001, ruthlessly dispatched Flipkens, a Wimbledon semi-finalist this year.
Rafael Nadal (Spa) [2] bt Ryan Harrison (USA) 6-4 6-2 6-2
“Now it seems like the gluten-free diet is great. After three years or four years we will find another thing that will be great, too. Then the gluten free will not work any more,” Nadal said.
“So all these kind of things that are new, personally I am not doing. I am happy with the normal diet. But I don’t say it’s negative. I will say everybody’s free to do what he wants.”
Serena Williams (USA) [1] bt Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 6-0 6-1
Defending champion Serena Williams, 31, outclassed 33-year-old Schiavone, who won the French Open in 2010, in every department during a wholly one-sided contest.
“I knew playing a former Grand Slam champion in the first round was a really tough draw so I decided to be super serious,” said Serena.
Roger Federer (Swi) [7] v Grega Zemlja (Slo)
Rain prevented five-time champion Roger Federer from getting his campaign under way, with play suspended shortly before 03:30 BST.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Li Na (Chn) [5] bt Olga Govortsova (Blr) 6-2 6-2
Richard Gasquet (Fra) [8] bt Michael Russell (USA) 6-3 6-4 6-2
Sloane Stephens (USA) [15] bt Mandy Minella (Lux) 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5)
Stephens, a rising star of US tennis, scraped through in a thrilling match and said: “Today someone yelled to me, ‘If you don’t get it together, this lady is going to take your second round prize money.'”
David Ferrer (Spa) [4] bt Nick Kyrgios (Aus) 7-5 6-3 6-2
Fourth seed Ferrer, a semi-finalist last year but short of form in the build-up to this year’s tournament, wrapped up an increasingly comfortable victory in nine minutes under two hours.
Grandstand
Bernard Tomic (Aus) bt Albert Ramos (Spa) 6-3 3-6 4-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-3
Australia’s Tomic set up a second-round meeting with Britain’s Dan Evans courtesy of a gutsy five-set win in just under four hours.
“To turn any match around like this, where I think I was probably one or two points away from being out of the tournament… being able to turn that around and find something inside you to win this match was very, very good for me.”
Ivan Dodig (Cro) bt Fernando Verdasco (Spa) [27] 6-3 7-5 1-6 4-6 6-3
Verdasco, who took Andy Murray to five sets in the quarter-final at Wimbledon, won an impressive 74% points on his first serve, but 63 unforced errors allowed Dodig to claim an impressive scalp.
Jelena Jankovic (Ser) [9] bt Madison Keys (USA) 6-3 6-4
Angelique Kerber (Ger) [8] bt Lucie Hradecka (Cze) 6-1 6-1
