Ana beat Ekatarina Makarova of Russia 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the US Open in New York. It was her first appearance since an ankle injury forced her to withdraw during the semi-finals in Cincinnati three weeks ago.
Ana made a trademark fast start. She held serve to love and attacked the Russian from the baseline.
Nevertheless, it took the 22-year-old until the sixth game to break her opponent, when she finally utilized one of her break opportunities to surge into a 4-2 lead.
Although Makarova plainly tried to avoid Ana’s dreaded forehand, the 2008 French Open champion kept on pressing her with some wonderfully attacking strokes.
Ana played another confident-boosting match and produced a whole arsenal of powerful strokes and aggressive returns as she secured victory after 71 minutes without facing a single breakpoint during the entire match.
Figures of 27 winners to 20 unforced errors illustrated the accomplished nature of Ana's display.
"Yesterday was the first day I managed to practice sort of almost without the pain," said Ana, reflecting on her rehabilitation following her ankle injury.
"It was frustrating to be off of the court for like 10 days. But, hey, I'm here competing and have a victory. So that's more than I can ask for.
"I feel that no matter what happens here, I really feel I'm on a good roll and I'm on the way back. I know that good things are about to happen."
Ana advances to meet 21st seed Zheng Jie from China in the second round. The Australian Open semi-finalist beat Timea Bacsinszky from Switzerland 7-6, 7-6 earlier in the day.
