Venus, Stosur advance, Bencic eliminated

Former champions American Venus Williams and Australian Sam Stosur are through to the third round of the WTA Tour event in Charleston.

Williams, the 2004 champion, fought past compatriot Alison Riske 6-4 6-2 in the second round today.

“It wasn’t easy,” Williams said. “It was great tennis from both of us, an hour and a half of slam, bam, thank you m’am!”

Williams next plays Kazahkstan’s Yulia Putintseva, who eliminated 2009 champion Sabine Lisicki 7-5 4-6 6-3.

Stosur, the 2010 champion, defeated Slovakian lucky loser Jana Cepelova 6-4 7-5 in 95 minutes to set up a showdown with fifth seed Sara Errani of Italy.

The 10th seed hit six aces in the win.

The bottom half of the draw is now wide open after second seed Belinda Bencic crashed out of the tournament, unable to handle Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina.

Vesnina needed only 56 minutes to wrap up a dominant 6-1 6-1 victory against the world No.10.

German Laura Siegemund was also an upset winner, beating eighth seed and last year’s finalist Madison Keys 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4.

“I’m definitely a clay court player and against someone like Madison who’s a hard hitter and likes to hit fast balls, I like to mix it up, player higher, lower, try to play slices and drops,” Siegemund said. “That’s just my game and I think it worked well.”

Australia’s Daria Gavrilova also advanced, while Canadian Eugenie Bouchard was forced to retire during her second round clash with an abdominal injury.