Former world No.1s Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters made triumphant returns to the WTA after long layoffs with victories on Wednesday at the prestigious Miami hardcourt tournament.

Seven-times grand slam champion Williams, who has not played since pulling out of last year’s US Open, defeated Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-0 6-3 in 77 minutes.

Williams announced at last year’s US Open she had been diagnosed with the auto-immune disorder Sjogren Syndrome. The illness saps her energy and causes pain in her joints.

Clijsters, playing for the first time since her Australian Open semi-final loss to Victoria Azarenka, rallied to eliminate Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova 4-6 6-1 6-0.

Clijsters, who won at Miami in 2005 and 2010, skipped last week’s Indian Wells tournament to rest her injured ankle.

Williams advanced to a marquee second-round match against Czech third seed Petra Kvitova, who had a first-round bye, while next up for Clijsters is Germany’s 14th-seeded Julia Goerges.

As well as Gajdosova, Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska also lost – 6-4 6-1 to Frenchwoman Stephanie Foretz Gacon.

First-round matches began in the men’s draw with Russian Nikolay Davydenko outlasting American James Blake 4-6 6-4 6-4 to book a second-round date with US 10th seed John Isner, the runner-up to Roger Federer last week at Indian Wells.

Dutchman Robin Haase beat Australian wildcard Marinko Matosevic 6-3 6-4, while Colombia’s Alejandro Falla led 6-1 2-1 when Uzbek Denis Istomin retired with an injury.