MADRID (AP) Serena Williams defeated Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-1 to reach the second round of the Madrid Open on Monday.
Defending champion Petra Kvitova advanced after beating Marina Erakovic 6-2, 6-3 in her opening match.
Williams had 13 aces and 40 winners against Vesnina, who was struggling with her game on the slippery blue clay court. The Russian lost her balance in the sixth game to set up a break point for Williams, who pulled ahead to lead 4-2.
Williams' ninth ace of the match earned her a set point. The ninth-ranked American wrapped up the match against the 68th-ranked Russian in just over an hour.
''I'm feeling good but I wasn't thrilled,'' Williams said. ''This is my first tournament in Europe so hopefully I will just keep my good form and just keep going.''
Williams will face Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round. Older sister Venus takes on Angelique Kerber of Germany later Monday.
Also on Monday, Andrea Hlavackova, Ekaterina Makarova, Lucie Hradecka, Lucie Safarova and Sara Errani won their-first round matches.
In the men's tournament, Spain's Nicolas Almagro rallied to beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3.
American Ryan Harrison beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) to reach the second round.
Other winners Monday included Serbia's Victor Troicki and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
