• Sony Ericsson Open

Serena charges past Vinci, Clijsters falls

Serena Williams powers down a serve © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: I have some great tennis left in me - Clijsters
  
• Profile: Kim Clijsters | Maria Sharapova | Serena Williams

Serena Williams' forward momentum continued as she proved much too good for Roberta Vinci at the Sony Ericsson Open.

The former world No. 1 made her return from an ankle injury that had sidelined her since the Australian Open with a win over Zhang Shuai and she continued her comeback with a dominant display against Vinci.

Breaks of serve were traded early on, but from the moment Williams claimed a second break to lead 3-1 in the first set the contest was pretty much over.

A third break of serve followed in the eighth game as Williams secured the opening set.

Williams may be ranked 11 in the world, but that is a false position and the gulf in class was evident in the second set as a break of serve was claimed in the opening game.

Having seen her sister Venus claim her 600th career win the previous evening, Serena seemed intent on making a statement of her own.

Vinci held serve in the fourth game to ensure there was no second-set bagel, but it only staved off the inevitable as Williams broke again in the sixth game before serving out to wrap up a 6-2 6-1 success.

Kim Clijsters was not so successful, however, as the Belgium fell to 23rd seed Yanina Wickmayer to end her return to WTA tennis. Clijsters was competitive throughout, but lost crucial points when she could ill-afford to as she eventually succumbed to a 6-4 7-6(5) defeat.

Second seed Maria Sharapova had no trouble progressing, however, as she dispatched qualifier Sloane Stephens 6-4 6-2 in exactly 90 minutes - before fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki followed suit as she beat Petra Cetkovska 6-3 7-5 and sixth seed Samantha Stosur survived a scare to see off Chanelle Scheepers 2-6 7-5 6-2.

Elsewhere, eighth seed Na Li needed to persevere in a hard-fought opening set before eventually wearing down Iveta Benesova, eventually claiming a 7-5 6-2 win. Sabine Lisicki dumped her fellow seed Shuai Peng out of the tournament thanks to a 6-4 7-5 performance, while Ekaterina Makarova had too much for Mona Barthel in a 6-2 6-4 success.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.