Williams, Bartoli move on at Family Circle Cup

Venus Williams and Marion Bartoli were among second-round winners Wednesday at the $740,000 Family Circle Cup tennis event.

The former world No. 1 Venus, who titled here in 2004 and is in the draw as a wild card, overcame an early break in the first set and cruised in the second as she bested seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic in 7-5, 6-0 fashion. The American will next battle Anastasia Rodionova of Australia.

The Serbian Jankovic, also a former top-ranked player, was the Charleston titlist in 2007 and runner-up in 2005.

Meanwhile, French slugger Bartoli won a hard-fought marathon. The third-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up outlasted Russian Vera Dushevina 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 in just over three hours on the green clay at Family Circle Tennis Center. The grueling affair featured 11 service breaks, including seven by the winner.

Bartoli will next face Slovenian Polona Hercog on Thursday.

Other second-round winners included sixth-seeded German Sabine Lisicki, the 2009 titlist here, who found her way to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Czech Andrea Hlavackova, and ninth-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova, who advanced past Croat Mirjana Lucic 6-2, 6-0.

Kazakhstanian qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova upended 12th-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), while 13th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova came back to dismiss 37-year-old American qualifier Jill Craybas 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2. The former top-10 player Petrova was the Charleston champ in 2006.

In other action involving seeds, a No. 14 Hercog leveled American Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 3-2 and No. 17 Marina Erakovic, of New Zealand, doused Georgian Anna Tatishvili 7-5, 6-3. Erakovic is rewarded with a third-round match against American great Serena Williams. The former world No. 1 titled here in 2008 and was the runner-up back in 2003.

In some other second-round play, Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak handled Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 and Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva blitzed Argentine qualifier Paula Ormaechea 6-2, 6-3. Voskoboeva should have her hands full with second-seeded 2010 Charleston champ and reigning U.S. Open titlist Samantha Stosur on Thursday.

This week's titlist will claim $115,000.