Wearing a red 'corset-style' outfit in the bright sunshine, the seven-times grand slam winner was not at her sharpest but still proved too good for out-of-sorts 13th seed Bartoli.

Williams broke serve straight away in a first set containing plenty of errors from both players but Bartoli looked poised for a second-set comeback after breaking to go 3-1 up.

The American, though, broke back immediately with a spectacular cross-court forehand volley and then broke again to clinch victory.