The third seed faced compatriot Kristie Ahn in a delayed encounter on Arthur Ashe stadium on Tuesday afternoon. After a slight hiccup to begin proceedings, Williams raced through with a 7-5 6-3 victory.

Ahn began the match by breaking Williams's serve, but the American leveled the score at 2-2. There were no further breaks of serve till Ahn served at 5-6, hoping to take the first set to a tiebreak. However, Williams's aggressive play forced her 96th ranked opponent to crumble under the pressure, gifting Williams the first set.

The second set began with another break by Ahn, who seemed unfazed after her meltdown a few minutes earlier. However, Williams reeled off five consecutive games to lead 5-2, employing her dominant serve and powerful groundstrokes. With Ahn able to hold one last time, Williams served for the match and converted her second match point to advance to the second round.

By virtue of this victory, Williams set an Open Era record of 102 wins at the US Open, and improved to 73-1 in the first round of Grand Slams. She next faces Margarita Gasparyan, who defeated Monica Puig 6-3 7-6(0) 6-0 in her first round match.

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