Venus out of this world in Miami

Players Under the Microscope / Editor / 04 April 2007 / Leave a Comment

Venus Williams believes she is approaching top form after easing past Aravane Rezai in her opening match of the Bausch & Lomb Championships.

The 26-year-old took just one hour to secure the 6-1 6-2 success, after breaking her French opponent's serve twice in both sets.

Williams, who won her first event of 2007 in Memphis in February, will now face number four seed Patty Schnyder in the next round and admitted that she is getting back to the form that has brought her seven Grand Slam titles since the turn of the century.

She said: "It was the most comfortable I've felt this season. I'm rounding into form at the right time."

And the American was pleased with the way she served at Amelia Island on Tuesday after below-par delivery in her previous tournament.

"My service game was that strong in Memphis too, and my second serve was also very strong tonight," she added. "Yet last week at the Sony Ericsson in Miami I couldn't find my serve."

Nadia Petrova made a comfortable start to her title defence with a 6-4 6-0 win over Kaia Kanepi and will now face Zheng Jie of China, who beat Italy's Mara Santangelo 6-3 6-3 and the Russian was pleased with the way she adapted to difficult on-court conditions.

"The key was getting that first set under my belt and gaining some confidence," she said. "I played with a little more freedom in that second set. I had to adjust to sliding on the court. It's quite difficult to judge the distance if you start sliding before you hit the ball."

Having been matched to small stakes at 8, Williams is now offered at 4.1 to win the tournament with Petrova trading as the 3.45 favourite.