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Serena Williams: Wait and see on shoulder injury

It is a case of wait and see for world number one Serena Williams as she battles a shoulder injury at the US Open.

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Williams has been nursing an injured shoulder since winning Wimbledon but her quest for a 23rd grand slam got off to a perfect start after she saw off Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets on Tuesday.

Looking cool, calm and collected - and most importantly pain-free - Williams recorded a 6-3 6-3 victory in the first round.

Asked about how she is feeling, Williams told reporters: "I feel okay. I mean, I didn't play as many matches as I would have liked to play, much on the hard court.

"There's nothing I can really do about it. I just have to get everything ready for here."

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Pressed further on the shoulder problem and when it is sore, the 34-year-old American added: "Usually it's the day of. But as time has progressed, and this past week it's usually been the day after, so that's a really positive thing.

"I didn't make too many adjustments. I didn't hit them as hard as I normally hit them. I just went for more placement. I didn't go for the big 120s, just the regular."

Of her quick movement on court, Williams continued: "Well, it's all I could do with a shoulder injury, was movement. I couldn't hit any balls. I wanted to stay fit, so...I guess that kind of helped me out a little bit."

While the shoulder injury is well documented, Williams showed no signs of the problem, winning 90 per cent of her first serves.

She also fired down 12 aces as she earned a second-round meeting with countrywoman Vania King.

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"I was pleased with my serve because I haven't been hitting a lot of serves at all," Williams said.

"In practice, none of them were going in, so I was definitely excited about that.

"I knew today I needed to be focused because I've played her. She's gotten to the semi-finals. She goes deep in majors. She knows how to play big matches on big courts. She's not intimidated. I knew I had to really come out today. It was my only option really."

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