Williams Cruises To U.S. Open Win

Taylor Townsend  has  surely watched Serena  Williams dominate first-round opponents at Grand Slams over the years. This time, the 18-year-old was on the business end of it at the U.S. Open. Williams cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory in Tuesday's nightcap against the overmatched Townsend, who was 2-years old when Williams made her U.S. Open debut in 1998.

Earlier, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, rising Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard and former  world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic were easy first-round victors. The one surprise saw 15-year-old American CiCi Bellis pull off a three-set upset of 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova. Bellis, making her Grand Slam debut, is the youngest player to win a match at Flushing Meadows since Anna Kournikova in 1996. A pair of former U.S. Open champs had different results, as 2011 winner Samantha Stosur moved on with a straight-set win over American Lauren Davis and 2004 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova was ousted by New Zealand's Marina Erakovic in three sets.

Roger Federer had little trouble in his first-round match Tuesday at the U.S. Open, while Spain's David Ferrer also  advanced. Federer, the  five-time champion at Flushing Meadows, eased past Australia's Marinko Matosevic, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), to start the night session at Ashe Stadium.

The fourth-seeded Ferrer needed four sets to best Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other seeded winners Tuesday included Japan's Kei Nishikori, American John Isner, Frenchman Richard Gasquet, Italy's Fabio Fognini and Gael Monfils of France.