Third seed Venus Williams wasted little time as she cruised into the second round of the ASB Classic with a 6-1 6-0 win over Slovakian Jana Cepelova.

The seven-time grand slam winner took just 52 minutes to get past 21-year-old Cepelova on Tuesday.

A finalist in Auckland 12 months ago, Williams went into this year’s event as the world No.19.

The 34-year-old American was a class above an opponent ranked 40 places below her, showing her power and accuracy, and also throwing down 10 aces.

Williams will now meet Japan’s Kurumi Nara, whom she has played once before, winning in the second round of Wimbledon last year.

Earlier, Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka pulled off a major upset to oust Russian fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Hradecka won the first-round contest 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4, making Kuznetsova the third seeded player to exit the tournament.

The marathon encounter lasted almost two and a half hours and it extended Hradecka’s run of going the distance this week – her three matches in qualifying also went to a deciding set.

“I’m so happy I won and I’m so tired,” she quipped afterwards.

An accomplished doubles player with victories in the US Open and French Open, Hradecka is ranked 153 in singles.

It looked at one stage like Kuznetsova, a two-time grand slam champion, was headed for a straight-sets victory, but her opponent repeatedly fought back.

Earlier, the Italian challenge was snuffed out with first-round defeats for the unseeded pair of Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci.

Schiavone, a former French Open champion and a semi-finalist in her two previous trips to Auckland, was upset by Polish qualifier Urszula Radwanska 6-4 7-5.

Vinci was beaten by American seventh seed CoCo Vandeweghe 5-7 6-2 6-3.

The other Italian in the 32-strong main draw, second seed Sara Errani, went out to Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova on Monday.