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Venus and Serena ease through in Rome

Venus Williams was a picture of concentration in Rome © Getty Images

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Venus Williams made a solid return to action with 6-2 6-2 win over Patty Schnyder in the second round of the Internazionali BNL D'Italia.

Venus, seeded four in Rome, showed no signs of rust on her first competitive outing since early April, as she converted a break point in the opening game when Schnyder pulled a forehand wide.

Schnyder hit back and two excellent passing shots secured a break of her own, but Venus quickly regrouped and in mixing up attack from the back of the court and the net the American raced through the opening set in 37 minutes.

Schnyder made a poor start to the second set, as Venus feasted on some short second serves to break in the first game. Venus failed to ram home her dominance and as in the first set, Schnyder broke back immediately.

Against the power of Venus, Schnyder was reliant on the use of angles and played drop shots with great regularity. The tactic paid dividends on occasions, but it was rare for Venus to allow Schnyder to take control of the points and the American broke on three occasions to set up the win in an hour and 15 minutes.

Venus will face Shahar Peer in the third round after the Israeli battled back from a set down to beat Polona Hercog 2-6 7-5 6-3.

Serena Williams made her first start since the Australian Open a winning one, but she was made to work hard to claim a 7-6(2) 6-1 win over Timea Bacsinszky.

Bacsinszky made early inroads on her opponent's serve and she was not overawed by taking on the world No. 1 as she mixed up power and precision as she worked Serena around the court. She led 5-3 at one stage but Williams was in no mood to falter on her first outing since January and upped her hitting from the back of the court.

Bacsinszky had set points in the 10th game but could not close it out and Serena broke before racing through her own serve. This forced Bacsinszky to hold serve to force a tie-break and the Swiss showed great character to stave off a break point before taking the set into a breaker.

The tie-break was always likely to suit Serena's more powerful style and so it proved as she claimed an early mini-break and raced away to secure the set 7-2.

Serena never looked back after taking the breaker and two breaks of serve knocked the stuffing out of Bacsinszky and Williams wrapped up what proved to be an ultimately comfortable victory.

Jelena Jankovic was another seed forced to scrap for her place in the third round, as the Serb claimed a 6-3 3-6 6-1 win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Dinara Safina cut a frustrated figure in her defeat to Alexandra Dulgheru © Getty Images

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Dinari Safina became the first big casualty in Rome when crashing to defeat to Alexandra Dulgheru. Safina's form has been patchy for some time and the No. 3 seed could never get to grips with her rival who showed real quality to claim a 6-4 6-7(5) 6-1 success.

Victoria Azarenka was another seed to stumble in Rome. The ninth seed was broken five times as she was beaten 6-4 6-4 by former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki showed no signs of the ankle injury that has hampered her efforts in recent weeks to notch an easy win over Italian wildcard Maria Elena Camerin. The world No. 2 lost just seven points on serve as she eased into the second round with a 6-1 6-0 victory.

Yanina Wickmayer got the better of a long battle with Aravene Rezai, winning 6-3 6-7(2) 7-5, while Andrea Petkovic eased past Petra Kvitova 6-3 6-4 to set up a clash with Serena Williams.

Despite struggling with her serve, sixth seed Elena Dementieva booked her place in the third round with a 6-4 7-5 victory, while No. 8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska breezed into the third round with a 6-1 6-0 mauling of Roberta Vinci.

Vinci broke serve in the opening game to raise hope of an upset, but Radwanska hit back in stunning style - reeling off six games on the spin to take the opening set. Radwanska carried the momentum into the second set and overwhelmed her rival with some power hitting from the back of the court.

As Radwanska cranked up the tempo, Vinci quite simply fell apart and it was fitting that her defeat was sealed by a wild forehand that she pulled into the tramlines.

It proved a disappointing day for the Rome fans as Francesca Schiavone was beaten 6-2 6-2 by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, while Elena Dementieva was a 6-4 7-5 winner over Yaroslava Shvedova.

The No. 14 seed Nadia Petrova dropped her serve twice but secured four breaks of her own in disposing of Katarina Srebotnik 6-4 6-4.

At the Estoril Open, Stefanie Voegele took the scalp of fifth seed Melinda Czink, winning 6-4 6-3, while Kristina Barrois dropped just two games in her 6-0 6-2 win over Jill Craybas.

The fourth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues strolled into round three, as she handed a double bagel to local girl Magali De Lattre - securing her 6-0 6-0 win in 40 minutes.

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