Wimbledon: Venus Electrifies With Outfit and Win Over Akgul Amanmuradova

With Venus in comfortable form, along with her grass catwalk Greek goddess dress, she handily defeated Akgul Amanmuradova of Tashkent, Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-1 on Monday.

The start of the match at the big “W” was simple enough for Akgul, with her first game held. Williams followed suit with a hold, and it wasn't until game three that we noticed a slight difference.

While Venus turned up the intensity, with aces and deep drives to the corners, Amanmuradova was having a hard time getting a racket on the ball on returns.

In the third game of the first set, Venus was drawn into the net on a drop volley from Akgul. At 30-40, Williams created a succession of volley's by dicing the court in two and knocking off winners at the net.

Add in a little ace here and winner there, we begin to see the momentum shift in the direction of Venus Starr. In the following game with Akgul serving, Venus leaped and flew through the air, returning balls at mach speeds. Williams up three games to one, was just a few holds away from the set.

With her long strides and consistent game, Williams possesses the speed and agility to get to most balls.

Holding the house down, Venus stretched the boundaries of the court with penetrating groundies and uncanny ball anticipation/court IQ. Akgul held onto her next game and anticipated a carry over to the following game on Venus' serve.

With a 5-2 advantage, Venus applied a proverbial approach to the following game, while Amanmuradova took her next serve with special care.

For these two veterans of the WTA Tour, playing for the first time takes on a special kind of approach and meaning. For Akgul, a win would mean that she defeated the Princess of the ball, and would be a part of history.

Statistically, Venus had seven aces to one for Akgul. Akgul had eight more unforced errors than Venus, and Venus' first-serve win percentage was 84 percent. Williams also hit 23 to 12 winners for Akgul.

She collected four of five break point chances.

The final score was 6-3, 6-1.

In the post-match interview, Pam Shriver asked, “How was Eastbourne?" To which Williams replied, “It was great, now I am more prepared for these matches at Wimbledon. I come in with a lot of confidence.”

"What about your next match with Kimiko Date Krumm?" Shriver then asked.

"I remember watching her play Steffi when I was around 12 years old. The longer the matched moved on I felt more comfortable,” Venus answered.

Like history tells us, every player has a retirement. So don't wait too long before you can catch a glimpse of one of the greatest women's tennis players of all time. She graces the court this year at 31, leaving us to ponder which direction she may go to in the twilight of her career.