Venus advances at Stanford with Serena up next

STANFORD – Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus Williams advanced to the second round of the WTA Stanford hardcourt tournament Tuesday by defeating Poland’s Paula Kania 6-3, 6-2.

Williams booked a second-round match against wold number 10 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus at the US Open tuneup event.

Another highly anticipated second-round matchup at the event will see world number one Serena Williams, a 17-time Slam champion who exited Wimbledon after struggling with a virus in a weak doubles showing with her sister, face 45th-ranked Czech Karolina Pliskova.

Serbian fifth seed Ana Ivanovic ousted Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 7-6 (7/2), 6-1.

Next up for Ivanovic will be Canada’s Carol Zhao, who advanced when leading 6-2, 1-0 after Belgian Yanina Wickmayer retired.

Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig eliminated seventh seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-3, 7-5.

Also falling was sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who lost to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.