MADRID: Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal breezed into the Madrid Open third round with their title defenses facing little strain on Wednesday.
Williams broke Shuai Peng three times in a 6-2, 6-3 win that was her 14th straight on the clay here, where the top-seeded American dominated her Chinese opponent on serve by firing 11 aces.
Williams, who moves on to face Spanish player Carla Suarez Navarro, looked fresh and focused while dismissing any injury fears despite a heavily wrapped left leg.
Nadal, meanwhile, certainly fed his confidence with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Juan Monaco of Argentina, just what the top-seeded Spaniard needed after coming to the Spanish capital on his worst clay run in a decade.
Nadal failed to advance past the quarterfinals of his last two clay tournaments.
His hopes of winning a second clay event after his triumph in Rio de Janeiro this year were bolstered on Tuesday when Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka lost and Roger Federer withdrew for the birth of his second set of twins. Second-ranked Novak Djokovic was absent to injury.
Third seed Wawrinka was leading by a set over Dominic Thiem before losing 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.
In other women’s results on Wednesday, fourth-seeded Simona Halep of Romania advanced, while Roberta Vinci of Italy knocked out Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-3.
Also, Tomas Berdych moved to a perfect 11-0 against Kevin Anderson following his 6-1, 6-4 win (AP)
