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NEW YORK - Venus Williams broke the main draw record for the fastest women's serve with a 208km/h bullet as she blasted past Hungarian qualifier Kira Nagy 6-2 6-1 in the first round of the US Open tennis championships today.
The Wimbledon champion, looking to win successive Grand Slam titles, overpowered Nagy in just 54 minutes to set up a match against Iona Raluca Olaru, of Romania.
Nagy, 29 and appearing in only her second Grand Slam match, seven years after her first, looked overawed as Williams roared to a 5-0 lead.
The Hungarian broke Williams and held for 5-2 but the American served out and then breezed through the second set to advance.
Williams' 208km/h serve broke her own main draw record, set at this year's French Open in Paris.
Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, of the Netherlands, hit a 209km/h serve in the qualifying event in Cincinnati last year, considered to be the record by the Women's Tennis Association.
- REUTERS