Azarenka, Serena, Venus reach third round in Rome
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World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, last week's Madrid titlist Serena Williams and former top-ranked star Venus Williams were among those recording second-round victories Wednesday at the $2.168 million Italian Open tennis event, a clay-court French Open tune- up.
Azarenka, who was last week's Madrid runner-up to Serena, blew past Israeli Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-2 in a brisk 55-minute nightcap on the red clay at Foro Italico. Peer failed to enjoy even one break-point chance in the predictable setback.
Up next for Azarenka will be diminutive Slovak Dominika Cibulkova.
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The ninth-seeded former No. 1 Serena had to come from behind to best former top-10 Russian Nadia Petrova 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in 2 hours, 9 minutes.
The 2002 Rome champion Serena, now 15-0 on clay this year, upset Azarenka in last week's finale on the controversial blue clay in Madrid.
Up next for the powerful American will be Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues.
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The wild card Venus, meanwhile, also topped a Russian opponent on Day 3, Ekaterina Makarova, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1 to setup a third-round match with Samantha Stosur, who stunned Serena in last year's U.S. Open finale.
Venus was the Rome champ back in 1999 and runner-up in 1998.
Third-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska succumbed to Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, while sixth-seeded former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki gave way to the clay-court specialist Medina Garrigues 6-4, 4-0, as the Danish star retired due to upper respiratory illness.
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A fifth-seeded Stosur avoided an upset by handling Italian crowd favorite Sara Errani 6-3, 7-5. Stosur was last year's Italian Open runner-up to former No. 1 Maria Sharapova.
Eighth-seeded reigning French Open champion Li Na of China got past Czech veteran Iveta Benesova 6-1, 7-5, while another Wednesday upset came when capable German Julia Goerges drubbed seventh-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1.
In other second-round action involving seeds, No. 12 German Angelique Kerber whipped American Vania King 6-3, 6-2, No. 13 Ana Ivanovic pasted Spanish qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-1, 6-2, and a No. 14 Cibulkova edged out Italian wild card Karin Knapp 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. Up next for the former French Open champion Ivanovic will be her fellow former No. 1 Sharapova.
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South African Chanelle Scheepers overcame New Zealand's Marina Erakovic 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, while Italian favorite Flavia Pennetta dismissed American qualifier Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-3, and Romanian Sorana Cirstea leveled Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-1 in other second-round play.
The 2012 Rome titlist will collect $385,000.