Despite boasting 17 Grand Slam singles titles, Serena Williams was forced to share the spotlight with a 15-year-old on day two of the US Open.

American wild card Catherine Bellis, the youngest player in the draw, took her place alongside the five-times US champion by stunning 12th seeded Australian Open finalist Dominica Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-1 4-6 6-4.

Williams advanced 6-3 6-1 over unseeded fellow American Taylor Townsend as she followed Federer onto the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to cap the second day of the championships.

Should she go on to win the tournament, the two-times defending champion would join Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova in fourth place on the all-time list of women’s Grand Slam singles champions with 18 titles apiece.

“Hopefully, I can just build on this,” said Williams, who has had a disappointing Slam season with her best result a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open back in January.

Margaret Court (24), Steffi Graf (22) and Helen Wills Moody (19) are the only three women to have won more Grand Slam titles.

Other leading contenders were keen to display their skills on a sunny day in Flushing Meadows.

Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and runner-up Eugenie Bouchard launched their Open campaigns with a bang, blasting by their respective first-round opponents with a minimum of fuss.

They were joined in the second round by eighth-seeded former world number one Ana Ivanovic, 11th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta, 16th seed Victoria Azarenka and 2011 champion Sam Stosur, but the biggest jolt of energy was supplied by Bellis.

Playing on the secondary Court Six, the teenager added her name to the record books by becoming the youngest female to win a match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996.

“I went into the match thinking it was going to be such a great experience,” said the pony-tailed Bellis, who received her wild card when she became the youngest player to win the girls’ 18s national championships since Lindsay Davenport in 1991.

“But I never thought I would come out on top winning. I’m still in shock about that match.”

Third-seeded Kvitova of the Czech Republic crushed Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-1 6-0, while Bouchard was nearly as efficient in dismissing Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-2 6-1 in the afternoon sunshine.

“I’m very happy. First round is always nerves,” said the hard-hitting Kvitova, who won the lead-in tournament in New Haven last weekend. “It was the same today. When I wake up, I start to feel nervous. I was just glad how I played.”