Venus Williams reaches 3rd round at French Open

Venus Williams advanced to the third round of the French Open by beating Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain 6-2,6-4 Wednesday.

Williams improved to 14-2 on clay in 2010. Shes seeded second at Roland Garros behind younger sister Serena,who scouted from behind the baseline,sitting next to their father. The Williamses could meet in the final.

Fifth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden won 20 of the first 22 points and went on to beat unseeded American Taylor Dent 6-0,6-1,6-1. Soderling,who upset Rafael Nadal last year and then lost to Roger Federer in the final,has lost seven games through two matches.

That was fun,huh? Dent said. Id be a fool to say that I felt like I was in it at any stage. It would be tough for me to beat the 12-and-under French champion playing that way. Soderling remained on course for a Roland Garros rematch against Federer in the quarterfinals.

Two-time semifinalist Nadia Petrova of Russia,seeded 19th,beat Agnes Szavay 6-1,6-2.

Williams took center court for the days opening match again wearing her lacy corset despite a change in the weather,with cloudy skies and cooler temperatures. She went to deuce six times in her first service game before holding,then pulled away to take the first set.

In the second set,both players held until the seventh game.

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Williams drew Parra Santonja into a moonball rally,then sprinted forward to slam a winner that sent her flounce flying.

That gave Williams a 4-3 lead,and she served out the victory,her 28th in 32 matches this year.

In 13 previous French Open appearances,Williams reached the semifinals only once – in 2002,when she lost to Serena in the final. But at 29,shes enjoying a career resurgence,and her record this year is the best on the womens tour.

Nadal opened his bid for a fifth French Open title Tuesday by beating 18-year-old wild card Gianni Mina of France 6-2,6-2,6-2,and it helped to face a player ranked 655th with a lifetime tour record of 0-1.

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First day here is always a little bit more nervous than usual, Nadal said. I think I played bad,but I won anyway,without problems,so thats always important. The match was Nadals first at Roland Garros since he lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round a year ago.

He said he was nervous? three-time French Open champion Mats Wilander said. Thats a scary thing for his opponents,because that means he wants his title back more than ever before.”