NEW YORK: Venus Williams overcame a bad knee and seven foot faults to beat 47th-ranked Vera Dushevina of Russia 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 and avoid a first-round exit at the US Open on Monday.

The No 3-seeded Williams, a two-time US Open champion, had her left knee bandaged by a trainer after the third game. The American also had plenty of trouble serving, piling up 10 double-faults along with her foot-faults. Dushevina broke for a 3-1 lead in the second set and was three points from winning at 5-4. But Williams, who has never lost in the US Open's first round, won the next seven games. Up 4-0 in the third set, Williams dropped three games in a row before finding her rhythm back. Williams owns seven Grand Slam titles, while Dushevina has only once been as far as the fourth round at a major tournament.

Williams' match served as the most intriguing encounter of the opening day that included victories for defending champions Roger Federer and Serena Williams. Former world No 1 Kim Clijsters won her first match at the US Open since claiming her lone Grand Slam title at New York in 2005. Clijsters marked her return with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over 79th-ranked Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine. It was the 26-year-old Belgian's first Grand Slam match since January 2007.

By beating 18-year-old American Devin Britton 6-1, 6-3, 7-5, defending champion Federer ran his winning streak to 35 matches at the tournament and became the first tennis player to surpass $50 million in career prize money. No one has won six straight U.S. Opens since Bill Tilden won the American Grand Slam tournament every year from 1920-25.

Other men's winners included American John Isner, who knocked off No 28-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-1, 7-6 (14), 7-6 (5); No 21 James Blake of the United States; former No 1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and French Open runner-up Robin Soderling of Sweden.

Serena Williams beat an American teenager Alexa Glatch 6-4, 6-1. Two-time major champion Amelie Mauresmo of France won easily, as did No 7 Vera Zvonarev of Russia and No 8 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, Italian No 10 Flavia Pennetta, No 12 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and No 14 Marion Bartoli. India's Sania Mirza beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.