(Reuters) - Serena Williams put herself back on the winning track in the American's final warm-up event before the U.S. Open with a 7-5 6-3 win over Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in her opening match at the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday.
The defending champion enjoyed a successful return to Cincinnati but Carolina Wozniacki, who Williams beat in the final at Flushing Meadows last year, continued her poor build-up for New York with a straight sets loss to Victoria Azarenka.
Williams prevailed in 90 minutes and showed none of the uncharacteristic struggles that dogged her during last week's semi-final loss to Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic in Toronto.