Rio 2016: Serena Williams overcomes blustery conditions as well as Daria Gavrilova to set sights on gold

Serena Williams beats Daria Gavrilovato 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round of the women's singles

(Getty)

Fresh from winning Wimbledon and with the Grand Slam record on the horizon for Serena Williams you might think the Rio Games would not be top of the American’s agenda. But the volume of the shriek of joy she let out after she cracked a forehand winner past her befuddled Australian opponent Daria Gavrilova to to set up a break of serve that sealed the first set was confirmation it very much is. It may not close that gap on Margaret Court or give her daylight on Steffi Graf in Slam land but gold is clearly her colour.

It took Williams, wearing navy blue, nine minutes to hold serve in the match’s first game against the World No 46 as she tried to come to terms with the blustery conditions, but then broke to make the day’s second match on Centre Court look like a formality. But with the wind increasingly troubling her she was broken in the third game as she dropped a double fault into the mix.

Serena, the gold medal winner at London 2012, suddenly adopted that ‘I’d rather be anywhere else’ attitude, mooching around the court with a long face, muttering in the direction of the match referee about the conditions. Play had been suspended on Courts One and Two due to wind but Centre here has higher sides and the officials decided to crack on.

Even the ball boys were having wind trouble – throwing the balls off course when the serving players were asking for them.

Serena, who won Wimbledon where she dropped only the one set to tie Graf’s Open era Grand Slam record of 22 majors, two Slam victories behind Margaret Court, came to terms with conditions better than her opponent and despite the odd error was too powerful – and cute (one lob was a delight) for the Aussie.

Serena Williams roars during her victory over Daria Gavrilova (Getty)

The wind had an effect on the standard of tennis but there was still enough high quality moments to keep a lively crowd jumping to their feet on occasions. The slow Centre Court in Rio is a far cry from the slick one in Wimbledon, though, with the sticky surface making hitting winners a tall order. At 5-3 to Serena in the first set one enormous rally had the crowd on its feet, wildly applauding despite Serena losing the point when she exhaustedly dunked an easy passing shot into the net. Gavrilova had as good as given up on the other side and fell to her knees on the hard green court while the spectators cheered.

Gavrilova has no answer to Williams in the second set (Getty)

Williams was given a standing ovation after her victory (Getty)

Serena, whose sister Venus, gold medal winner back in 2000 in Sydney, had surprisingly been eliminated on Saturday by Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, closed out the second set with much more ease than she won the first as the wind dropped. The American eventually won 6-4, 6-2 in 90 minutes to the delight of the crowd who gave her a standing ovation as she left.