BASTAD (Sweden): World number one and top seed Serena Williams advanced to the second round of the Swedish Open by beating Sesil Karatancheva of Kazakhstan 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday.

Williams broke Karatancheva’s serve five times, twice in the first set and three times in the second, to advance at the clay-court tournament on Sweden’s west coast.

She will next face Anna Tatishvili of Georgia, who beat 16-year-old Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Third seed Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, sixth seed Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, Mathilde Johansson of France, Teliana Pereira of Brazil, Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands and Andrea Gamiz of Venezuela also advanced.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

First round: Andrea Gamiz (Venezuela) bt 4-Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 6-1, 6-3; 1-Serena Williams (US) bt Sesil Karatantcheva (Kazakhstan) 6-1, 6-2; 6-Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) bt Anastasia Grymalska (Italy) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1; Richel Hogenkamp (Netherlands) bt Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (Spain) 6-3, 6-3; 3-Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) bt Ellen Allgurin (Sweden) 6-1, 6-1; Nina Bratchikova (Russia) bt Lesley Kerkhove (Netherlands) 6-3, 6-1; Anna Tatishvili (Georgia) bt Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; Teliana Pereira (Brazil) bt Dinah Pfizenmaier (Germany) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5; Alexandra Dulgheru (Romania) bt Caroline Garcia (France) 7-6 (7-2), 6-1; Mathilde Johansson (France) bt Julia Cohen (US) 6-2, 6-3.

Almagro advances into third round at German Open

HAMBURG (Germany), July 17: Third seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain advanced to the third round of the German Open by defeating Tobias Kamke of Germany, 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday.However, two other seeded players exited the tournament as Florian Mayer of Germany defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4 and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia upset Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 7-6.

Ninth seed Benoit Paire of France also advanced to the third round by beating Albert Montanes of Spain 6-1, 6-4.

Gael Monfils beat 2010 Hamburg champion Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3 to make the second round of the clay-court tournament. Golubev had to qualify for this year’s event.

Among other first-round winners were Federico Delbonis of Argentina, Robin Haase of Netherlands, Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia, Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany and three Spaniards — Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Albert Ramos and Marcel Granollers.

Results:

Second round: Florian Mayer (Germany) bt 7-Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) 6-3, 6-4; Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) bt 8-Jeremy Chardy (France) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1); 3-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) bt Tobias Kamke (Germany) 6-3, 6-3; 9-Benoit Paire (France) bt Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-1, 6-4.

First round: Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) bt Matthias Bachinger (Germany) 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-2; Gael Monfils (France) b Andrey Golubev (Kazakhstan) 6-3, 6-3; Albert Ramos (Spain) bt Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-4); Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) bt Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; Marcel Granollers (Spain) bt Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; Robin Haase (Netherlands) bt Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 7-5; Blaz Kavcic (Slovenia) bt Victor Hanescu (Romania) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; Federico Delbonis (Argentina) bt Julian Reister (Germany) 6-3, 6-3; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spain) 6-3, 6-3.—Agencies