Posting an identical scoreline to her younger sister, Venus Williams got through her second round match today against Louisa Chirico 6-2, 6-1. Williams' showcased her solid performance at the by breaking her American opponent four times and hitting 22 winners throughout the match.
Venus Dominates First Set
It was Williams who began proceedings by holding serve and got right to the chase by breaking the Chirico serve in her very first return game. As Venus held the next game relatively comfortably, Chirico was visibly struggling and down 0-3. She got on the scoreboard in the fourth game and attained some grounding and confidence. This resulted in her managing to hold her next service game a lot more comfortably. This was definitely not enough against the former world number one, however, who was applying utmost pressure when serving herself; she channeled this into some powerful forehand winners when returning in the eighth game and broke service again to clinch the set.
Although Williams could only hit one ace in this set, she kept a high percentage of first serves in and lost only two points on her first serve. She also hit thirteen sensational winners and won all of her points when approaching the net. Chirico simply had no response.
Former World Number One Finishes The Job
By breaking the Chirico serve to take the previous set, Williams had the advantage of serving first once again. She made the most of it by starting off the second set with a love hold. Chirico then served, and hit three sensational forehand winners to hold her serve. Somehow, this created some pressure and Williams' next service game went to deuce, but the experienced player managed to get out of the minor inconvenience unharmed. This was, however, Chirico's only silver lining in the set.
From here on, it was the Venus Williams show. She broke her opponent's serve in the very next game at advantage and followed this up with a convincing hold of service. Even with the upper hand, she did not let her opponent gain even a minute chance of a comeback as she broke her again and then served the match out comfortably. In Williams' final service game, she hit an ace and two forehand winners to pull the curtains down in style.
This is the first time Venus Williams has reached the third round of the French Open since 2010. She will be hoping to continue what seems to be some splendid form as she plays France's very own Alizé Cornet, who defeated Tatjana Maria in a dramatic three-setter, in her next match