Serena too good for Groth

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:36

With serves regularly topping 110mph, the number two seed was rarely troubled against a 22-year-old opponent born of Slovakian parents but who lives in Melbourne.

The match lasted just 57 minutes and was little more than an extended training hit for Williams against an opponent ranked 69th in the world and whose game was sprinkled with powerful but wild groundstrokes.

The first break came for Williams with a trademark two-handed backhand return down the line in the fourth game of the first set. She followed that up with a service game to love and took the set with another break of serve in the eighth game, aided by three Groth double faults.

Williams won the Wimbledon title in 2002 and 2003 and has also been runner-up twice.

She had far too much experience for Groth who again showed her fragility on serve in the second game of the second set, throwing in another two double faults to hand the break to her opponent.

Williams, who looks in better physical shape than in recent years, needs no such gifts.

But they kept coming, a smash into the bottom of the net handing another break of serve to Williams in the fourth game.

The hit-and-hope nature of Groth’s game did allow her to claw back one break of serve when a string of big hits went the right side of the lines for once, but it only delayed the inevitable.

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