Sleepy Serena skips New Year celebrations in Brisbane

A jet lagged Serena Williams skipped any New Year celebrations for a good night’s sleep after starting her 2014 WTA campaign in Brisbane Tuesday with a win over Andrea Petkovic.

The top seed was extended by her German opponent before winning the second round match in straight sets, 6-4 6-4 and admitted she was heading to her hotel for an early night.

“I don’t celebrate New Year’s Eve, so usually I’m in bed at midnight,” Williams told the WTA official website.

“I always hear the fireworks though. They wake me up at midnight. Hopefully I can sleep through them tonight.

“I’m a very serious player. I never leave my room during a tournament, so I’m not going out,” she added.

Former top 10 player Petkovic proved a strong opponent for a season-opener and Williams dropped her service early in the match.

But she quickly recovered and also made inroads on the Petkovic service, as well as sending down 11 aces of her own.

“It was an intense match, which was really good,” Williams said. “She’s a good player. She’s been in the top 10 before and she was on her way to being even better. So it was a really good match for me.”

Williams will next play ninth seed Dominika Cibulkova, who had to battle for two hours 14 minutes to beat 43-year-old Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm, 6-3 1-6 6-3.

Despite her desire for some shut eye, Williams will be hoping to have got back to more regular sleep patterns after only flying into Australia Saturday ahead of the tournament.

She tweeted: “I keep going to sleep around 8:30 or 9pm… Ughhh I’m so tired trying to stay awake… #jetlagisreal.”

Third seed Maria Sharapova is on the comeback trail after an injury layoff so may have mixed feelings about the withdrawal of her schedule second round opponent, Australian teenager Ashleigh Barty, who has torn a left abductor muscle.

The Russian superstar will now advance to the quarterfinals, where she will play 2012 champion Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

In other matches Tuesday, fourth seed Jelena Jankovic beat Elina Svitolina, 6-1 6-3 and Kanepi saw off eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 6-2.