London: Serena and Venus Williams claimed straightforward victories in the Olympic Tennis today but world number one Victoria Azarenka was taken to three sets by Irina-Camelia Begu in her opening match.
The Belarusian briefly looked in trouble against the Romanian when she lost the second set and then went down an early break in the decider.
But she promptly reeled off six games in a row to win 6-1 3-6 6-1 and next plays Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
Azarenka had been held up by rain yesterday, and it was the same story for Venus Williams, who has been battling Sjogren’s syndrome but made qualifying for the Olympics her top priority.
The 32-year-old has three gold medals to her name, two in Doubles with sister Serena Williams and one in Singles from Sydney in 2000.
She rolled back the years with a superb 6-3 6-1 victory over ninth seed and French Open finalist Sara Errani from Italy.
Serena played her first-round match on Saturday and wasted no time reaching the third round today, seeing off Poland’s Urszula Radwanska 6-2 6-3.
In the last 16, the American will meet 13th seed Vera Zvonareva, the bronze medallist from Beijing 2008, after the Russian saw off Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-3 6-3.
Back in the first round, there were also wins for Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and Russians Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko.
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