BASTAD, Sweden — Top-seeded Serena Williams advanced to the second round of the Swedish Open by beating Sesil Karatancheva of Kazakhstan 6-1, 6-2 Tuesday.
Williams broke Karatancheva’s serve five times, twice in the first set and three times in the second, to advance at the clay-court tournament on Sweden’s west coast.
She will next face Anna Tatishvili of Georgia, who beat 16-year-old Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Third-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, sixth-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, Mathilda Johansson of France, Teliana Pereira of Brazil, Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands and Andrea Gamiz of Venezuela also advanced.