Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova register comfortable wins in Rome

Rome, May 15 (IANS): World No. 1 Serena Williams beat Andrea Petkovic 6-2, 6-2 in the second round of the Italian Open Wednesday to march on towards a possible semi-final collision with Maria Sharapova.

Williams showed no ill effects of the left thigh injury that forced her to withdraw before her Madrid quarterfinal last week in beating Petkovic, according to Xinhua.

Williams went ahead by 4-0 in the first set. Petkovic twice managed to hold serve to win two games, but could not find a way to break Williams.

The second set was similar to the first as Williams went 3-0 in front. The American completed victory in an hour and 16 minutes; she did not face any break points in the second set.

Sharapova, who has won back-to-back tournaments in Stuttgart and Madrid, began her campaign with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over qualifier Monica Puig to make it 12 wins from 12 matches on clay in 2014.

She will now face former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the next round in a repeat of the Stuttgart final last month.

Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska also advanced with win over Paula Ormaechea 6-3, 6-2.