Serena Cruises Into 2nd Round, One Step Closer to All-Williams Encounter by Whit Sheppard Monday, August 29, 2005 Eighth-seed and former US Open champion (1999, 2002) Serena Williams showed few signs of the lingering left ankle and knee injuries that have hampered her 2005 campaign, as she overcame 16-year-old Taiwanese qualifier Yung-Jan Chan, 6-1, 6-3, in one hour, 18 minutes in Monday's opening match in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Wiliiams advances to a second-round match against 69th-ranked Colombian Catalina Castano, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Russia's Alina Jidkova. If Serena and her sister Venus, the 10th-seed, both win out their upcoming matches, they would meet in a much-anticipated fourth-round match. Serena, a WTA Tour veteran at just 23, and winner of seven Grand Slam singles titles, held serve to open the match and raced to an early one-set lead after just 29 minutes, overwhelming the No. 2-ranked ITF junior in 2004 with a series of powerful, well-placed groundstrokes. Chan was playing her first-ever Tour-level match, having advanced through three rounds of qualifying--with the loss of only 11 games--to earn a spot in the main draw. Williams was tested more sternly in the second, dropping her serve to fall 1-3 down before earning two consecutive breaks on the strength of powerful two-fisted backhand drives. " I was playing really flat and lazy," she said. "I told myself, 'Come on Serena, let's go!'" "I feel awesome," she added. "There's no pressure on me, and I've got nothing to lose, which is when I usually play my best." As ever, Serena made as much noise with her apparel as with her game, sporting a $40,000 pair of earrings that drew some post-match attention away from her on-court play. When an interviewer playfully inquired about her choice of jewelry and mentioned that the earrings likely cost more than her young opponent's career earnings, Serena said simply, "You gotta have the bling!" - Career Earnings: Serena-$15.8 million; Chan-$21,700. - At No. 8, Serena has received her lowest seeding since the 1999 US Open. - Chan was playing her first-ever Tour-level match. --

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