Jankovic, Williamses Win; Radwanska, Hantuchova Out

The Williams sisters were in crushing form on Tuesday as second round matches took the hardcourts of the Olympic Green Tennis Center in Beijing. Three more seeds were sent packing in straight sets, however.
 
Among the first wave of Sony Ericsson WTA Tour stars to play was No.4 seed Serena Williams, who steamrolled Samantha Stosur in 44 minutes, 62 60. From 2-all in the first set it was all Williams, who became stingier and stingier as the match went on, giving up five points in the 20-minute second set.
 
"It was clean; in the past I'd play really clean matches then the next would be kind of streaky, but I don't want to do that anymore," Williams said. "I thought my returns got more consistent. She started out serving really well, and then my returns started getting better. I wasn't blasting every one; I tried to place it."
 
Not long after that, No.7 seed Venus Williams moved into the next round with a 61 64 win over Iveta Benesova. Williams cruised through the opening set and grabbed a break of serve early in the second set, but Benesova managed to hold onto the rest of her service games, unlike Stosur earlier in the day.
 
"I'm not sure I faced any break points; that's good for me going on in the later rounds, that I'm tough on my serve," Williams said. "An all-Williams final would be fantastic. It's a long way away, but getting into the third round makes it closer. I'm excited for both of us to be playing really well for the US."
 
An all-Williams final is possible, given they lie on opposite halves of the draw.
 
Other high seeds moving through to the round of 16 were new world No.1 and No.2 seed Jelena Jankovic, a 75 61 winner over Alona Bondarenko; No.5 seed Elena Dementieva, a 63 64 winner over Sofia Arvidsson; and No.6 seed Dinara Safina, who won her 12th match in a row with a 76(3) 61 win over María José Martínez Sánchez. No.8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska wasn't so fortunate, losing a 63 76(6) decision to Francesca Schiavone, who collected her 14th Top 10 win.
 
Jankovic's first set with Bondarenko was a roller coaster ride, as she held leads of 4-1 and 5-3 before the Ukrainian evened it up, 5-all; but Jankovic regrouped to win eight of the last nine games to move on.
 
"She's a great player. We played many, many times in the past and had some tough matches," said Jankovic, now 8-0 against Bondarenko. "Today I started quite well. I lost a little bit of my concentration, but in the end of the first set I was able to regroup. The second set was a little bit easier for me."
 
It was a mixed day for the lower tier of seeds. No.9 seed Vera Zvonareva, No.12 seed Victoria Azarenka, No.15 seed Alizé Cornet and No.16 seed Dominika Cibulkova all advanced, but No.10 seed Daniela Hantuchova and No.13 seed Patty Schnyder both fell. Hantuchova lost to Danish phenom Caroline Wozniacki, 61 63; Schnyder lost to mother-on-Tour Sybille Bammer, 64 64.
 
Winners in matches between unseeded players included China's Top 2, Zheng Jie and Li Na, as well as Kaia Kanepi and Lucie Safarova. Zheng needed three sets to get past Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives but Li defeated Japan's Ayumi Morita in straight sets, 62 75, regrouping after losing a one-break lead in the second set to close it out. Li had taken out No.3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round; Zheng had beaten No.11 seed Agnes Szavay.

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