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 The 33-year-old American looked all at sea during the first 19
minutes of the early morning match in a sweltering Perth but the
caffeine hit did just the trick as her serve clicked into gear for a
0-6 6-3 6-0 win.
"I'm so jet lagged and Flavia played really, really well and yeah,
everyone needs coffee every now and then. I needed coffee to get my
feet moving," Williams said in an on court interview to roars of
appreciation from the crowd.
"I wanted coffee with my bagel and whatever coffee it was, it was
really good."
Williams had asked a ball girl to get her the hot drink fix but was
initially unsure if it was allowed.
"I am a coffee drinker. I didn't have mine this morning and I was
just feeling it, so I just had to get some coffee into me," she told
reporters later.
 "I just asked them to get me a shot of espresso. I asked them if it
was legal, because I've never done it before."
The 18-times grand slams singles champion is aiming for a sixth
Australian Open in Melbourne later this month and is using the round
robin mixed team event as preparation for the year's first grand
slam.
She watched on from the stands and pumped her fists in delight as
compatriot John Isner beat Fabio Fognini 5-7 7-5 7-6 (4) to give the
U.S. the victory, with the duo making it a clean sweep by staving
off match points to win the mixed doubles.
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The big-serving American duo snapped up the first set 6-2 but the
Italians stormed back taking the next by the same score and had two
match points in the deciding tiebreaker but Williams and Isner
recovered to pinch it 11-9.
The Americans will take on the Canadian duo of Eugenie Bouchard and
Vasek Pospisil in the evening session on Tuesday, while Czech duo
Lucie Safarova and Adam Pavlasek will aim for a second Group A win
against the Italians earlier in the day.
In Monday's evening session, the British pair of Heather Watson and
Andy Murray will face French duo Alize Cornet and Benoit Paire in
Group B aiming to match Poland's 3-0 success over Australia.
(Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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