Evergreen Venus sails through

AFP, MONTREAL: Venus Williams breezed into the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Wednesday with a straight sets rout of Barbora Strycova as home hope Eugenie Bouchard upset 11th seed Dominika Cibulkova.
Sixth seed Williams, 36, showed no sign of lingering weariness following her defeat in the final of the WTA Stanford event in California last weekend, maintaining her 100 percent record over Strycova with a 6-3, 6-0 win.
Williams was pleased to have wrapped up the win in under an hour after a marathon three-hour battle with Strycova in their previous encounter.
Strycova paid the price for a failure to put pressure on Williams’ suspect service game in the second set.
Strycova managed to earn only one break point — unconverted — but was in turn broken three times as Williams raced into the next round.
Elsewhere Tuesday, Canada’s Bouchard delighted her hometown crowd with a 6-2, 6-0 drubbing of Cibulkova.
Victory was sweet for the former world number five, who lost to Cibulkova at Wimbledon earlier this month.
Bouchard’s win came just a day after a gruelling three-set battle with Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
Bouchard had also been hit by a stomach complaint during a doubles match later Tuesday.
However she looked comfortable during a victory in one hour 13 minutes on Wednesday, saving seven break points while unfurling a stream of winners -- 22 in total—to clinch victory.

Evergreen Venus sails through

AFP, MONTREAL: Venus Williams breezed into the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Wednesday with a straight sets rout of Barbora Strycova as home hope Eugenie Bouchard upset 11th seed Dominika Cibulkova. Sixth seed Williams, 36, showed no sign of lingering weariness following her defeat in the final of the WTA Stanford event in California last weekend, maintaining her 100 percent record over Strycova with a 6-3, 6-0 win. Williams was pleased to have wrapped up the win in under an hour after a marathon three-hour battle with Strycova in their previous encounter. Strycova paid the price for a failure to put pressure on Williams suspect service game in the second set. Strycova managed to earn only one break point unconverted but was in turn broken three times as Williams raced into the next round. Elsewhere Tuesday, Canadas Bouchard delighted her hometown crowd with a 6-2, 6-0 drubbing of Cibulkova. Victory was sweet for the former world number five, who lost to Cibulkova at Wimbledon earlier this month. Bouchards win came just a day after a gruelling three-set battle with Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic on Tuesday. Bouchard had also been hit by a stomach complaint during a doubles match later Tuesday. However she looked comfortable during a victory in one hour 13 minutes on Wednesday, saving seven break points while unfurling a stream of winners -- 22 in totalto clinch victory.