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AMELIA ISLAND (Florida), April 7: Serena Williams made an impressive start to the claycourt season on Wednesday, easing past Dally Randriantefy of Madagscar 6-3 6-1 to reach the third round of the Amelia Island Championship.
French Open champion Anastasia Myskina recovered after a self-confessed bout of boredom to beat Israeli teenager Shahar Peer 6-2 3-6 6-3.
But Australian Alicia Molik, the fourth seed, was less fortunate. She went down 6-4 6-4 to Virginie Razzano of France.
Williams, who won her seventh grand slam title at the Australian Open in January, took time to find her feet on the clay.
Randriantefy matched the second seed in the early stages before the American broke for 4-2 in the opening set. After that, Williams was always in control.
In round three, she’ll meet former champion Mary Pierce of France, who crushed Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou 6-0 6-2.
Third seed Myskina was her own worst enemy as she allowed the 17-year-old Peer, who received a wildcard into the event, back into their match.
Peer, who gave Serena Williams a tougher-than-expected test in the third round at Miami last week, looked like she would be blown away as Myskina cruised through the first set.
But as the Russian’s concentration wavered, the mistakes flowed and Peer took the second set 6-3.
Myskina next plays 15th seed Shinobu Asagoe of Japan.
Molik, who reached her first grand slam quarter-final at the Australian Open in January, made too many unforced errors in her match with Razzano, who had won just two matches in 2005 before arriving at Amelia Island.
The 21-year-old, ranked number 54, took full advantage to seal her second victory over a top-10 player.
Sixth seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia scraped past Peng Shuai of China 4-6 6-4 7-6 on her fourth match point. Another Russian, ninth seed Elena Likhovtseva, edged out Argentine Gisela Dulko in three sets.
Seventh seed Nadia Petrova of Russia hammered Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva 6-3 6-0, while eighth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder, Serbian Jelena Jankovic, the 11th seed, and number 12 Silvia Farina Elia of Italy also advanced.
Second round results
Vera Zvonareva bt Shuai Peng 4-6 6-4 7-6(7); Elena Likhovtseva bt Gisela Dulko 6-3 6-7(6) 6-4; Virginie Razzano bt Alicia Molik) 6-4 6-4; Patty Schnyder bt Denisa Chladkova 6-3 6-0; Silvia Farina Elia bt Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2 6-2; Mary Pierce bt Eleni Daniilidou 6-0 6-2; Serena Williams bt Dally Randriantefy 6-3 6-1; Kveta Peschke bt Amy Frazier 6-4 6-4; Marta Domachowska bt Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3 3-6 6-4; Anastasia Myskina bt Shahar Peer 6-2 3-6 6-3; Shinobu Asagoe bt Lisa Raymond 7-5 6-3; Jelena Jankovic bt Conchita Martinez 6-0 6-3; Nadia Petrova bt Magdalena Maleeva 6-3 6-0.—Reuters
