UPDATE 1-Tennis-Venus overcomes illness to advance at Indian Wells
Asked in an on-court interview to describe the encounter, the 38-year-old former world number one was almost at a loss for words. "I don't know honestly. I'm still trying to figure it out," she said to laughs from the crowd on a sunny and windy day in the California desert.
"Every day is not your best day but that doesn't mean the heart and desire aren't there." Thursday's match was just Williams seventh of the year and first since January's Australian Open, where she fell to Simona Halep in the round of 32.
The win sets up a mouthwatering second-round clash with third seed Petra Kvitova, who holds a 4-2 edge in their previous meetings. In other first-round winners on Thursday included Estonian Kaia Kanepi, Japan's Misaki Doi, American Madison Brengle and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll, editing by Nick Mulvenney)
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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