Williams eases through

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:18

Williams, the Australian Open champion, was far too good for France’s Emilie Loit on Friday evening as she triumphed 6-4 6-1. Loit is ranked 134th in the world and although she made a decent fist of things in the first set, she was broken four times in all by the in-form American.

Williams will next play third seed Elena Dementieva, who ended the hopes of another French player, Nathalie Dechy, with a 6-3 6-2 victory.

The Olympic champion was dominant throughout and needed little more than an hour to prevail.

World number three Jelena Jankovic, however, was made to fight all the way by promising French teenager Alize Cornet before clinching a 5-7 6-4 6-4 win.

In a match of lengthy baseline rallies, Jankovic broke early but her opponent, ranked 13th in the world, hit back as the Serbian served for the set.

Cornet, 19, then took her serve once more to win the first set and threaten an upset, but Jankovic levelled the match by claming a second featuring numerous breaks of serve.

Jankovic needed treatment on a foot problem in the deciding set but held firm to win a match which lasted more than two and a half hours.

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