8th May, 2012
It was mixed fortunes for the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, at the Madrid Open in Spain yesterday.
While Serena marked her first European appearance of the season with a victory on the striking blue clay court, her sister, Venus, crashed out in the second round.
Serena, who reached the third round the last time she played in Madrid in 2010, powered past last week’s Budapest Grand Prix runner-up, Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-3, 6-1.
The ninth seed delivered some powerful serves, hitting 14 aces to set up a meeting with another Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the next round.
“I was feeling good,” Serena told reporters. “It’s my first tournament in Europe this year and I just hope I can keep up the good form,” added the American who has yet to lose in eight clay outings this season. “I haven’t noticed a difference between the blue and the red clay.”