Seven-time grand slam champion Venus Williams advanced to the second round of the WTA Stanford hardcourt tournament on Tuesday by defeating Poland’s Paula Kania 6-3 6-2.
Williams booked a second-round match against world No.10 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus at the US Open tune-up event.
Azarenka, the fourth seed, had a first-round bye.
Another highly anticipated second-round match-up at the event will be world No.1 Serena Williams, a 17-time slam champion who exited Wimbledon after struggling with a virus, facing 45th-ranked Czech Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday night.
Venus Williams fired seven aces in her 73-minute match. After taking a 4-0 lead with two service breaks in the second set, she fended off five break points in her last two service games, and sealed the win when her 21-year-old challenger hit a forehand into the net.
“She was a fighter,” Williams said. “She has a diverse game; she can come to the net; she serves pretty well. She just kept staying in there, so I was happy to win the match.”
Serbian fifth seed Ana Ivanovic ousted Sabine Lisicki 7-6 (7-2) 6-1, avenging a third-round loss to the German at Wimbledon.
While Lisicki didn’t get the win, she did grab a slice of WTA history with the fastest serve on the women’s circuit — a 211km bomb that surpassed the previous record of 208km held by Venus Williams.
Ivanovic managed to get her racquet on it, denying Lisicki an ace.
Former world No.1 Ivanovic rallied from a 4-1 deficit to pull off the straight-sets win.
“It was a really good match, even though it was both of our first matches in a while,” Ivanovic said.
“I got down in that first set, and she was playing really well, and serving really well too. I really tried to find my rhythm in that set and, in the second set, I really started feeling her serves a little bit more.
“It was a really tough draw for both of us, and I’m happy I was able to win this one.”
Next up for Ivanovic will be Canada’s Carol Zhao, who advanced when leading 6-2 1-0 after Belgian Yanina Wickmayer retired.
Also falling was Slovakian sixth seed and defending champion Dominika Cibulkova, who lost to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza 6-2 4-6 6-2.
Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig eliminated seventh seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-3 7-5.
