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Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino rallied past Williams 4-6,
6-1, 6-2 in first-round action. Marino, 31, is ranked 111th in
the world, while Williams, 42, is currently unranked due to her
long absence.
Williams hadn't played singles on tour since last August in
Chicago. The rust showed on her serve as she racked up 13 double
faults and just three aces. Marino had 10 aces and two double
faults.
Another former world No. 1 player was in action on Monday, and
third-seeded Simona Halep of Romania downed Spain's Cristina
Bucsa 6-3, 7-5.
Russia's Liudmila Samsonova ousted fifth-seeded Elise Mertens of
Belgium 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Other first-round winners included sixth-seeded Kaia Kanepi of
Estonia, Australia's Daria Saville, the United States' Jessica
Pegula and China's Lin Zhu. Croatia's Donna Vekic eliminated
seventh-seeded Mayar Sherif of Egypt 6-4, 6-1.
Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic
Eighth-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic rallied to
beat Great Britain's Katie Boulter, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the
first round at San Jose, Calif.
After dropping the first set, Pliskova went up 5-1 in the second
set but twice lost games while serving for the set. After
claiming the tiebreaker to level the match, Pliskova got through
a rocky third set that featured five service breaks.
Four U.S. players, Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys, Taylor
Townsend and Elizabeth Mandlik, won their opening matches.
Seventh-seeded Daria Kasatkina of Russia came from behind to
beat Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 1-6, 6-2, 6-0.
--Field Level Media
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