Serena has her sights on second straight title win

Serena Williams, the No2 seed, started her bid to record consecutive title wins on her comeback with a 6-3, 6-1 rout of Mary Pierce of France in the second round of the Bausch & Lomb Championship in Florida.

Williams returned to competitive tennis last week after missing eight months due to knee surgery and captured the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami in her first tournament since last year's victory at Wimbledon.

Defending champion Elena Dementieva of Russia was forced to retire from her secondround match due to a right hip strain.

Dementieva, the fifth seed, dropped a first-set tiebreaker against Croatia's Jelena Kostanic and lost the first game of the second set before the injury prevented her from continuing.