Venus cruises into round three

Venus Williams' serve clicked into gear as she brushed aside Arantxa Parra Santonja to reach the third round of the French Open for the ninth successive year.

World number two Williams had major problems holding in her opening win over Patty Schnyder but was not broken once on Wednesday in a 6-2 6-4 success on an overcast Philippe Chatrier Court.

Indeed, it was her opponent who struggled on serve, Williams breaking the Spaniard three times to set up a clash with 26th seed Dominika Cibulkova.

Williams' problems looked set to continue when she conceded break point in her opening service game, but the 29-year-old five-time Wimbledon champion eventually held before breaking her Spanish opponent the very next game.

World number 59 Parra Santonja continued to afford break points to her rival in an error-strewn performance and handed her serve to Williams for a second time in game seven before the American served out the set.

Parra Santonja, 27, saved another break point in the opening game of the second set, which went with serve until game seven, when Williams produced her best tennis of the match.

She broke with a volleyed winner, having previously made numerous errors at the net in the match.

Parra Santonja had two break-back points in a marathon game eight but Williams held before serving out for victory in one hour 35 minutes.