Venus Williams made it 12 wins in a row as she cruised past Roberta Vinci in the third round of the WTA Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
American seals a dozen straight wins with facile victory over Italian
Venus Williams made it 12 wins in a row as she cruised past Roberta Vinci in the third round of the WTA Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
Three-time Miami champion Williams took just 70 minutes to dispose of her Italian opponent 6-1 6-4 to move into the fourth round at Crandon Park.
Williams, the number three seed in Miami, won successive tournament titles in Dubai and Acapulco, and her win over Vinci made it 12 on the spin.
Vinci, by contrast, has now lost 12 consecutive matches against players in the top five, so it was perhaps no surprise to see her lose to the American powerhouse.
It could have been a different story though, had world number 55 Vinci taken more than just the one of her seven break points offered up by Williams.
The 1998, 1999 and 2001 winner hit six booming aces but also threw in seven double-faults, but Vinci was unable to take advantage on the crucial points.
Confidence
"Obviously being on a winning streak helps my confidence every time," said Williams.
"I still ultimately believe in me and my game - of course I really enjoy winning as many as I can in a row."
Williams will face Daniela Hantuchova in the next round after the Slovakian 19th seed saved eight break points on her way to beating Nadia Petrova 6-2 6-4.
Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova saw off Agnes Szavay in straight sets to book her place in the last 16, breaking the Hungarian's serve six times on the way to a 65-minute 6-2 6-3 victory.
Sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat number 25 seed Ana Ivanovic 7-5 7-5 to progress and France's Marion Bartoli eventually battled past Gisela Dulko7-6 (7/2) 6-4 to set up a clash with Kuznetsova.
Belgian, Yanina Wickmayer, the US Open semi-finalist, beat Petra Martic 6-3 6-3, while Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan got the better of Andrea Petkovic 6-0 5-7 7-5.
