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Williams begins defence of her Acapulco crown

Venus Williams is playing with confidence after victory in Dubai © Getty Images

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Venus Williams and Carla Suarez Navarro were both in tournament-winning shape as they progressed through the opening round of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel tournament in Acapulco.

Williams, the defending champion, is playing with confidence following her victory in Dubai last week, and she easily brushed aside the challenge of Mathilde Johansson, winning 6-2 6-3. Navarro meanwhile, who is the tournament's fifth seed, looked even more impressive as she blew Greta Arn off court 6-0 6-0.

Williams has had little time to adjust to the new clay surface after arriving straight from the hard courts of Dubai, but she was happy with her opening display. "It was a really good first match," she said. "I was just trying to get my rhythm on the clay and make the transition."

Elsewhere, third seed Gisela Dulko threw off a second set slumber to defeat Lucie Hradecka 6-1 2-6 6-2, while No. 7 seed Roberta Vinci kept to the form book by beating Arantxa Parra Santonja 2-6 6-3 6-4.

In the men's Mexican Open in Acapulco, Spain's Nicolas Almagro will meet Richard Gasquet in the second round after his victory over Israel's Dudi Sela 6-1 7-6(0). Almagro is the two-time defending champion at this tournament, meaning 40% of his career titles have come here.

Top seed Fernando Verdasco, back in the top ten this week, almost came unstuck but recovered to see off Fabio Fognini 2-6 6-4 6-0.

The first round's big match up lived up to its billing with second seed Fernando Gonzalez edging out in-form American Sam Querrey in a third set tie-break. Last week's winner in Memphis, Querrey, bounced back from an opening set loss but eventually lost out 6-4 3-6 7-6(2).

Querrey's Memphis final opponent, fifth seed John Isner, also gets a well-earned rest after falling 7-6 7-5 to German Simon Gruel. The man to watch should be Juan Carlos Ferrero after winning 11 straight matches and claiming two titles this month. He had a straightforward 6-2 6-3 progression at the expense of Diego Junqueira.

One of Ferrero's other most recent victims, Juan Monaco, came through a marathon two-and-a-half hour match with Alberto Martin, winning 6-7 7-5 6-2 in the end. And losing finalist to Ferrero in Buenos Aires last week, David Ferrer, justified his third-seed tag with a straight sets 6-2 6-4 dismantling of Potito Starace.

In a topsy-turvy match, Juan Ignacio Chela beat Australian No. 2 Peter Luczak 6-0 1-6 6-0, while eighth seed Albert Montanes beat fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5 4-6 6-2.

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