Venus Williams upsets No. 12 seed in first round of U.S. Open

Venus Williams, at 33, has been fighting a bad back this season, and will cope for the rest of her life with Sjogren's Syndrome, the energy sapping condition that forced her out of the 2011 U.S. Open.

But watching her Monday on Arthur Ashe Stadium Court, there was little question that when she's healthy, she's dangerous. Just ask her opponent, the well-beaten No. 12 seed Kirsten Flipkens.

"Anybody who knows anything about tennis could see she was a top 10 player out there today," said Flipkens, who was trounced, 6-1, 6-2. "This is her play garden, Arthur Ashe. She was on fire."

The two-time U.S. Open champion and seven-time Grand Slam winner evoked memories of her dominant years, the years before sister Serena surpassed her, the years before injury and illness took a toll on her talent.

But nothing seems to take a toll on her confidence. Even in a season when she has hardly played -- the aching back forced her out of tournaments in June and July and restricted her to two brief hardcourt appearance leading up to the Open -- she remains supremely confident that she can be more than a shadow of herself even though her ranking is No. 60.

"I stay positive because I know I can play great tennis," said Williams, who won a small tournament in Luxembourg last year, her first victory since 2010.

The last of her Slam victories came at Wimbledon in 2008. "Sometimes you just have to go through more than you want to go through," she said. "Sometimes you have to have losses. When I had losses, it always motivates me a lot to do better and to work harder."

A bad back has made it particularly difficult to work harder on anything. "I've been without a serve this season," Williams said. "I think I was serving in the 40 percentages this summer, so it was challenging."

The error-prone Flipkens didn't do much to challenge her in the first set, but Williams confronted her biggest challenge serving at 2-2 in the second. Williams faced two break points that she canceled out with an ace and a service winner. When the game went to a sixth deuce, Williams pounded a big second serve for one point, then ripped a forehand winner for the game. From there, she cruised.

Asked about the state of her game, Williams replied: "I try not to think about the state. I try to think about how I'm going to execute each point on the court."

She acknowledges ongoing inspiration from Serena, though she won't divulge the nature of the advice. She hasn't had to counsel Serena much this season. Serena, an eight-time winner this year, coasted to a 6-0, 6-1 over Francesca Schiavone Monday night.

In a bubbly television interview after her win, Venus dispatched any thoughts of retirement or of riding off into the sunset as her sister's doubles partner.

"I got no kids, got no husband, got no responsibility," she said. "So I play tennis. Some people try to retire us early. I enjoy my life. I do the best I can. I always hold up my head through everything."