Venus Williams survived a stiff test from unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova to move into the Italian Open third round with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win on Monday.
The US fourth seed, who had a bye into the second round, unleashed eight aces as she sauntered through the first set.
But the 22-year-old Czech, ranked 49th, was much more of a handful after that.
She broke in the third game of the second set with a fine backhand return and Venus, the 1999 champion here, had to save a break point in the fifth. Safarova held serve with relative ease to force a deciding set.
Venus had to save four more break points before getting the decisive break in the fourth game with the help of an emphatic volley.
The sixth-seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka had a simpler route into the third round when her opponent, Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita, retired after losing the first set to love.
Last-year’s runner-up Alize Cornet, seeded 13th, repelled a fightback by Japan’s Ai Sugiyama to progress into the second round 6-3, 7-5.
France’s Cornet took the last two games to clinch the match after Sugiyama had pulled back from 4-1 to 5-5 in the second set.
Danish ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki overwhelmed Hungary’s Agnes Szavay 6-3, 6-2 and Russian Anna Chakvetadze overcame shaky recent form to oust Spanish 15th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-3.
Russian world No. 1 Dinara Safina’s first opponent will be France’s Virginie Razzano, who edged past Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-0, 6-7, 6-4.
■ESTORIL OPEN
AFP, ESTORIL, PORTUGAL
Argentina’s two-time French Open semi-finalist David Nalbandian faces a fight to be fit for this year’s renewal as he is struggling with a hip injury.
The 27-year-old was thumped 6-2, 6-2 by Chile’s Paul Capdeville at the ATP tournament on Monday, with Nalbandian frustrated after hurting his hip little more than a week ago in Barcelona.
All he can do now prior to a possible start next Monday at the new Madrid Masters on clay is undergo more physio.
In the women’s draw top seed Iveta Benesova put out Nueza Silva of Portugal 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, while German eighth Anna-Lena Groenefeld advanced over France’s Pauline Parmentier 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/1).
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