NEW YORK: Venus Williams eased into the third round of the $20. 6 million US Open yesterday by demolishing Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay 6-0, 6-3 despite a lackluster performance sprinkled with unforced errors.
Williams, the US Open winner in 2000 and 2001, did not get much of a workout in the 59-minute match against the 113-ranked De Los Rios, 32, who has never gone beyond the second round at Flushing Meadows.
The 28-year-old seventh seed, who won her fifth Wimbledon singles title in July, made 17 unforced errors and squandered four match points on her serve at 5-3 up before finally claiming victory on the fifth. In the third round, Williams will meet Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine, the 27th seed who defeated Sabine Lisicki of Germany in three sets.
Sixth seed Dinara Safina defeated Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-4, 6-3 in the second round.
It has been a breakthrough season for Safina who has won three of her eight career titles in 2008. She reached the final at the Beijing Olympics but had to settle for silver after losing to Russian compatriot Elena Dementieva.
Safina hammered six aces and won 71 percent of her first serve points in the 80-minute match on the main Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“I think it still could be better,” she said. “I was up 4-1 up in the first set and then I let it go to 4-4.
“I was lucky that I held my serve. There is more room to improve. Hopefully in the next match I can do better.” It would be a windfall victory for Safina if she breaks through and captures the US Open title. Safina moves through to the third round where she will play the winner of a match between Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland. Kei Nishikori advanced when Roko Karanusic, of Croatia, retired at the end of the second set with the Japanese teen leading 6-1, 7-5. Nishikori, who is playing in his first US Open, advances to the third round where he will face the winner of a match between fourth seed David Ferrer, of Spain, and Andreas Beck of Germany. “I tried to go to the net more often, because he was using the slice a lot,” Nishikori said. “I tried to make more first serves. He gets more nervous when I make my first serve.” Through the early action on Day 4, only two top players had been upset in the tournament - No. 8 Vera Zvonareva and No. 10 Anna Chakvetadze. No. 17 Alize Cornet, No. 18 Dominika Cibulkova and No. 19 Nadia Petrova also won in straight sets, while No. 20 Nicole Vaidisova lost to Severine Bremond 7-5, 6-3.
On the men’s side, No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka swept Wayne Odesnik of the United States.
