Justine Henin kept her cool in the mid-afternoon heat in Miami to defeat Sara Errani 6-2 6-1 at the Sony Ericsson Open.
Ivanovic makes early exit as Venus sails past wild card
Justine Henin kept her cool to defeat Sara Errani 6-2 6-1 and book her place in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open.
The mid-afternoon start time in Miami meant the players were forced to deal with high temperatures on court.
However, the world number one took five of seven break point chances to ease past her Italian opponent in just over an hour.
"It was very hot out there," said Henin, who reached the final of the same tournament last year. "It was quite difficult to breathe."
Venus dazzles
Venus Williams also made easy work of reaching the next round, dispatching Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-2 6-1 in 67 minutes.
The sixth seed, looking for a fourth success in the event, did drop her serve in the third game of the first set but overcame the early disappointment to crush the wild card.
"I think I played consistent and not too many errors, which is great for me," Williams said.
"She brought a lot of balls back, and that was a challenge, but I was just winning all of the important points."
Third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova found life a little tougher in her match with Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
The Russian was forced to save a match point in the second set before rushing through the decider to triumph 1-6 7-5 6-0.
Seeds tumble
The news was not so good for second seed Ana Ivanovic, who was sent packing by American Lindsay Davenport.
The world number 33 won 13 of 14 points at the net and cancelled out her 20 unforced errors with 20 winners.
Defeat denies Ivanovic the chance to claim back-to-back WTA Tour titles after her success in Indian Wells last week.
Dinara Safina, seeded 13, knocked out 18th-seeded Sybille Bammer of Austria 4-6 6-1 6-0.
Shahar Peer of Israel is also through to the next round after comfortably seeing off the challenge of 15-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito 6-0 6-2.
Former world number one Amelie Mauresmo let slip a one set lead to tumble out 5-7 6-4 6-4 at the hands of China's Jie Zheng.
