Former world No 1, Serena Williams made a comeback winning against Zarina Diyas at the BNP Paribas Open after 14 months of absence from the court.

The 23 Grand Slam winner who was trailing until breaking points in the 11th game of the first set on Thursday night beat her Kazakhstan opponent 7-5, 6-3 in the first round.

Williams who has been on maternity leave since winning the 2017 Australian Open early in her pregnancy served a love game capped by a 100mph ace in her first service game before breaking points in the first and fifth games but couldn’t convert.

Serena, who lost to Shuai Zhang 13-11 in the semifinal of the Tie Break Ten competition at the Madison Square Garden in New York, started hitting harder with her familiar grunting as she went ahead to a 5-all tie.

Since her birth to Olivia, Williams has only featured in competitive appearance in December at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi, a Fed Cup doubles match with her Sister Venus last month and an exhibition in New York on Monday.

She is playing at Indian Wells under a protected ranking of 22nd. Williams hasn’t been unseeded at a tournament since 2011 in Cincinnati.

Other winners Thursday were Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, qualifier Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium and Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

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