Williams sisters power into Beijing last 16
The Williams sisters wasted no time in booking their places in the third round of the Olympic singles event in Beijing on Tuesday.
The Williams sisters are one step closer to meeting each other in the final this weekend in China after both enjoyed easy second round victories on day three of the tennis event.
Serena, the fourth seed, was too powerful for Sam Stosur, thrashing the Aussie 6-2, 6-0 in 44 minutes, while seventh-seeded Venus got past Czech Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-4.
“It was clean,” said Serena, who next faces France’s 15th seed Alize Cornet. “I played really clean matches in the past and the next one would be kind of streaky. I don’t want to do that any more.”
Cornet made it into the last 16 thanks to a 6-3, 6-2 result against China’s Peng Shuai.
Later in the day, second seed and new world No.1 Jelena Jankovic survived a tough first set against Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko before wrapping up a 7-5, 6-1 win.
The Serb next faces 16th-seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova, who beat Jankovic en route to the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal recently. Cibulkova advanced by outclassing Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2, 6-2.
Eighth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska was Tuesdays biggest women’s casualty as she lost 6-3, 7-6 to Italian Francesca Schiavone.
Young Dane Caroline Wozniacki was another to impress as she hammered 10th seeded Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 6-3.
Sixth seed Dinara Safina continued her impressive form of late with a 7-6, 6-1 victory over Spains Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and fifth seed Elena Dementieva also got through, the Russian a 6-3, 6-4 winner against Swede Sofia Arvidsson.
In the mens event there were early victories for third seed Novak Djokovic, Thomas Berdych, Gilles Simon, Nicolas Kiefer and Gael Monfils before Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal cruised into the third round with comfortable wins.
Nadal demolished Aussie Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-2 in what many expected to be the match of the day, while Federer took care of El Salvador’s Rafael Arevalo 6-2, 6-4.
Seventeenth seed Berdych beat Italys Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-6 to set up a third round date with Federer the man he beat at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Djokovic stormed to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over German Rainer Schuettler to set up a meeting with Mikhail Youzhny.
Tenth-seeded Simon, from France, comfortably beat Argentine Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-1, while Kiefer got past South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.
Monfils, another Frenchman in the draw, came away with a 6-4, 7-6 win from his second round clash with Victor Hanescu from Romania.
Belgiums Olivier Rochus went through when his opponent, Serbias Janko Tipsarevic, retired in the second set of their contest.
There were two upsets in the men’s competition as fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko and ninth seed Stanislas Wawrinka both went out.
Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu beat Davydenko 7-5, 6-3, while Wawrinka fell to Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-0.
Web links
ITF Olympic tennis website
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