Serena, Clijsters sail
August 14, 2009 00:00:00
CINCINNATI, Aug 13 (AFP): Second-seeded Serena Williams cruised into the third round of the two million-dollar WTA Tour event here Wednesday as Belgian Kim Clijsters kept her comeback on track with a straight sets victory.
Reigning US Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Williams needed little more than an hour to dispatch Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-3, 6-2, firing 13 aces past the unseeded Ukrainian.
"I've been working really hard on it," Williams said of her serve. "I'm glad it's coming through. I hope I can keep it up for the rest of the tournament and the US Open."
Clijsters, back after a two-year absence from tennis, kept her comeback on course with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Switzerland's Patty Schnyder.
Clijsters booked a third-round clash with Russia's French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Clijsters, who retired in May of 2007 and gave birth to a daughter in February of 2008, had launched her return with a straight sets victory over France's Marion Bartoli Monday.