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Williams, who made the Wimbledon final last
month but withdrew from last week's Rogers Cup in Montreal for
personal reasons, cracked eight aces and was never broken as she
dispatched the 24-year-old Australian.
"I realised after Wimbledon that this is a journey for me," the
36-year-old Williams said.
"It's going to come and I'm taking it one day at a time. I'm
just fortunate to be back here on these courts playing tennis.
Everything is truly amazing."
Next up for the 23-times grand slam champion is a second-round
clash on Tuesday with two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova,
who had a first round bye.
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus came from behind to defeat Johanna
Konta 4-6 6-3 6-4 in their first round tussle.
Konta had 10 double faults and was broken four times by the
20-year-old, who will face big-serving ninth seed Karolina
Pliskova on Tuesday.
U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys and former world number one
Victoria Azarenka also advanced.
Keys, the 11th seed, fired 13 aces as she eliminated fellow
American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 3-6 6-7(3) 6-4.
Azarenka, working her way back up the world rankings from her
current number 87 after the birth of a son, overcame Carla
Suarez Navarrao of Spain 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4.
Azarenka will meet sixth seed Caroline Garcia in the second
round.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll and Gene Cherry; Editing by Ian
Ransom)
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