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Miami — Venus Williams eased into the third round of the Miami Open with a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win over Poland’s Urszula Radwanska on Thursday while Caroline Wozniacki also progressed.

Williams has been away from competition for almost a month but she needed just 66 minutes to beat the younger sister of 2012 Miami winner Agnieszka Radwanska.

Williams was not at her best, she made 24 unforced errors but produced 22 winners to Radwanska’s four and her passage to the next round was never in doubt.

“She’s definitely a tricky player. She puts so many balls in play. And it was a little windy today — I just had to keep my feet moving and pray my balls were going in,” said Williams, who will face Australian Sam Stosur in the next round after she defeated French qualifier Pauline Parmentier 6-1 3-6 6-0.

Fourth seed Wozniacki had no trouble in dealing with American Madison Brengle 6-0 6-1 to set up a meeting with Estonian Kaia Kanepi.

Agnieszka Radwanska had a tougher battle, surviving a strong test in the second set to earn a 6-4 7-5 win over Slovakia’s Anna Schmiedlova.

World number two Maria Sharapova crashed out of the Miami Open hardcourt tennis tournament on Thursday, ambushed by 97th-ranked Daria Gavrilova 7-6 (7/4), 6-3. The upset, biggest so far at the combined WTA and ATP Masters event, took one hour, 49 minutes and marked the worst defeat five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova has endured in Miami since she lost in the first round on her debut in 2003. — Sport24/AFP