Mian Shakeel Aslam : Serena Williams, on the rise after a layoff of nearly a year, notched her 12th straight victory in the first round of the Cincinnati hardcourt tennis tournament.
Williams, a former world number one and 13-time Grand Slam champion, defeated Czech Lucie Hradecka 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
The American booked a second-round clash with Australian Samantha Stosur -- the woman Williams beat on Sunday in the championship match at Toronto.
Stosur, the 10th seed, advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over qualifier Eleni Daniilidou of Greece.
"Sam is playing great," Williams said. "We had a really tough match in Toronto, and it was a big win for me.
Williams returned in June from an 11-month absence due to injury and illness, beginning with a cut foot that required surgery shortly after her 2010 Wimbledon triumph and including dangerous blood clots in her lungs.
She has improved her world ranking from 175th in the world to 31, winning titles in consecutive starts at Stanford and Toronto.
Her 12-match winning streak matches Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka for the longest on the WTA tour this year.
Hradecka, who had battled back from 1-5 down in the second set to take a 6-5 lead en route to the tiebreaker, finally double-faulted on match point.
In other matches French Open champion Li Na also moved smoothly into the third round Tuesday with a straight-set victory over Lucie Safarova.
Li, whose triumph at Roland Garros made her China s first Grand Slam tennis champion, defeated the Czech 6-3, 6-4 to become the first woman to reach the third round.
It was Li s first match win since her second-round exit at Wimbledon, and followed her opening match defeat in Toronto last week.
"I needed some matches for the hard court," said Li, who reached the Australian Open final in January.
"It s always tough, but I was happy I could win the match today," added Li, the fifth seed. "Because I missed a lot, I think I need some matches for me to find the timing on the court."
Fourth-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova, sixth-seeded Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli also swept past their opponents in second-round matches on Tuesday.
All of the top eight seeds, led on the women s side by Caroline Wozniacki and on the men s by Novak Djokovic, have first-round byes.
Sharapova routed qualifier Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 6-3, finishing off the Australian in just 71 minutes.
Sharapova posted just one ace but dominated with her serve winning 57 percent of her second serves and converting six of seven break point chances.
"I thought I played aggressively and felt better than I did last week, definitely," Sharapova said.
Sharapova will face the winner of a match between Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova and Czech Petra Cetkovska in the next round.
Unseeded FlaviaPennetta upset 12th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, while 13th-seeded JelenaJankovic of Serbia cruised past Czech IvetaBenesova 6-0, 6-3.
Posted By : Mian Shakeel Aslam
Source : http://twitter.com/#!/MianShakeel
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