US Open: Serena Williams makes light work of Maria Sharapova, Johanna Konta battles through to second round

Williams, the 23-time grand slam champion, has now won 20 of their 22 meetings following a thumping 6-1 6-1 victory.

It was the pair's first encounter since January 2016, and was all the more eagerly-anticipated after Williams pulled out of a scheduled meeting at last year's French Open through injury.

Sharapova is nowhere near the player who beat Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final - and also won their next match the same year - but despite the scoreline she did not play at all badly.

The Russian, 32, got a healthy 73 per cent of her first serves in. One fierce cross-court winner on the run even had Williams applauding.

But Sharapova could barely lay a glove on Williams, who turns 38 this month and remains tantalisingly within touching distance of Margaret Court's record of 24 major titles.

Victory was wrapped up when a Sharapova return floated long after only 59 minutes.

Williams said: "Obviously I was going against a player who has won five grand slams so it was never going to be easy, and every practice after that was super intense because it was such a tough draw.

"She's such a good player, and you have to be super focused, so every time I come up against her I have to play my best tennis."

Williams, who has now won 19 matches in a row against Sharapova, added: "I just feel like her game really matches up well against mine.

"I always said her ball somehow lands in my strike zone. I don't know. It's just perfect for me."

Konta battles through to second round

Johanna Konta had some A-list backing as she battled into round two of the US Open.

Avengers star Tom Hiddleston, currently starring in Betrayal on Broadway, was in the British number one's box following a chance meeting in New York.

And after two hours the end game arrived for Russian Daria Kasatkina as Konta progressed 6-1 4-6 6-2.

"We met a few days ago, it turns out he's a big tennis fan so I invited him down and he brought some of his co-stars," revealed Konta.

"We literally just crossed paths, and I did the 'don't bother him, he's busy' thing, and he actually came over and said, 'I'm a massive fan'.

"We got chatting and he's super nice. Will I go to his show? If I get time I'd love to."

Konta roared through the first set in 23 minutes, but Kasatkina, a top-10 player not so long ago, hit back as the Briton got frustrated with a couple of umpiring calls.

The 28-year-old was fuming after a Kasatkina forehand was called out, only for the umpire to overrule and award the point to the Russian.

She reached boiling point moments later when her own forehand was called out and overruled, only for the point to be replayed.

"We differed in opinions," she added. "There was one game where he made two calls, I thought they were the same situation but he called them differently. That was basically it."

Konta regained her composure, though, and secured the crucial break to lead 4-1 in the decider before completing an impressive victory.

"It was what I anticipated it to be," said Konta. "I started well, but she was 10 in the world last year and I've lost to her the last two times we played.

"I enjoyed being out there, I enjoyed the difficulty of it."

Konta is already Britain's sole representative in the women's singles after Harriet Dart bowed out.

Londoner Dart, who came through three rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw for the first time, lost 6-3 6-1 to Romanian Ana Bogdan.

Barty and Pliskova advance, Kerber crashes out

French Open champion Ashleigh Barty, seeded second, survived a scare after dropping the first set in double-quick time against Zarina Diyas.

The Australian, opening proceedings in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, eventually hit back to win 1-6 6-3 6-2.

"I just didn't give myself a chance in that first set," said Barty. "It was sort of appalling, I probably made a set's worth of errors."

Third seed Karolina Pliskova needed a pair of tie-breaks to get past Czech qualifier Tereza Martincova in the first match on Louis Armstrong.

Angelique Kerber was a surprise casualty, the 2016 champion storming back after losing the first set to Kristina Mladenovic, but then bowing out 7-5 0-6 6-4.

Kerber, last year's Wimbledon winner, said: "I tried everything I could, and in the last 10 days I prepared as good as I can.

"This is tennis, this is sport, and we have to deal with this. I will deal with this as good as I can."

Two-time champion Venus Williams eased through with a 6-1 6-0 victory over Chinese world number 38 Saisai Zheng.