Rome 2012: Sharapova, Serena, Venus, Kvitova advance; Jankovic ousted

Defending champion and world no. 2 Maria Sharapova advanced to the third round on her first match at the 2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Tuesday. Sharapova needed two tough sets to boot out American Christina McHale in a 75 75 victory. Joining Sharapova in the next round is no. 4-seed and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova who eliminated un-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, also in straight sets 75 64. Kvitova failed to defend her Madrid Open title last week, an upset victim in the third round.

Americans had reasons to cheer with former world no. 1 Venus Williams, a wild-card entry, beating Romanian Simona Halep 63 64. It was the second week in a row that Venus faced Halep, but this time, there was no drama and the win was a routine. Last week in Madrid, Halep almost upset Venus, overcoming a 61 20 deficit to force a third set before Venus squeaked through 61 46 76(6). Joining Venus in the next round is American qualifier Sloane Stephens who beat former top-10 player Anna Chakvetadze in three sets 62 26 64. Watch highlights of the Venus vs Halep match here.

Three seeds were eliminated including two-time champion Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic got beaten in a third set tiebreak by Sorana Cirstea 63 46 76(4) and continues a season where she has been eliminated in her first match for six of her last eight events. No. 11-seed Sabine Lisicki and no. 16-seed Maria Kirilenko were ousted by unseeded Marina Erakovic and Flavia Pennetta, respectively.

The person to beat on clay this year, world no. 6 Serena Williams took on Galina Voskoboeva in the evening match. Serena is expected to advance to the next round after winning the first set 6-2 and leading 3-2 in the second set as of this writing. UPDATE: Serena advanced by beating Voskoboeva 62 63.

2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia - Rome, Italy - WTA Tennis Results

Singles - Second Round
(2) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Christina McHale (USA) 75 75
(4) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 75 64

Singles - First Round
Marina Erakovic (NZL) d. (11) Sabine Lisicki (GER) 76(4) 46 63
(14) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d. (Q) Mirjana Lucic (CRO) 61 62
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. (15) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 63 46 76(4)
Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. (16) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 61 76(2)
Sara Errani (ITA) d. Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) 60 30 ret. (left abdominal injury)
Petra Cetkovska (CZE) d. (Q) Olga Govortsova (BLR) 75 64
Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (Q) Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) 63 63
(Q) Sílvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) d. (WC) Alberta Brianti (ITA) 62 61
(Q) Sloane Stephens (USA) d. (Q) Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) 62 26 64
(WC) Venus Williams (USA) d. Simona Halep (ROU) 63 64
(WC) Karin Knapp (ITA) d. Roberta Vinci (ITA) 64 26 62

Doubles - First Round
(6) Goerges/King (GER/USA) d. Jans-Ignacik/Kudryavtseva (POL/RUS) 75 62
Benesova/Medina Garrigues (CZE/ESP) d. Klepac/Rosolska (SLO/POL) 60 61
Dulko/Suárez (ARG/ARG) d. Arvidsson/Gajdosova (SWE/AUS) 64 62
Makarova/Vesnina (RUS/RUS) d. Llagostera Vives/Martínez Sánchez (ESP/ESP) 75 76(6)
Hampton/Tatishvili (USA/GEO) d. Hsieh/Zheng (TPE/CHN) 16 63 119