Serena joins Venus in next round

Second seed Serena Williams found some welcome form on clay to cruise into the third round of the French Open.

The American was a convincing 6-2 6-0 winner over Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual in 57 minutes on Philippe Chatrier court with a display that was a far cry from the one she produced in round one against Klara Zakopalova, ranked 100 in the world.

On that occasion, Williams recovered from going 2-1 down in the deciding set and needed nine match points to eventually take victory.

Ruano Pascual, who can be found even further down the rankings in 133rd, was much more forthcoming, Williams breaking twice in the first set and three times in the second to clinch a third-round meeting with Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Before coming to Roland Garros, Williams had not won a match on the dirt this year.

Williams' elder sister, Venus, was made to work much harder earlier in the day to claim her place in round three at the expense of Lucie Safarova.

Resuming this afternoon a set down from last night, Venus comfortably took the second set but was in real danger in the third against the unseeded Czech when serving to stay in the match at 4-5.

A backhand winner saved her skin on match point and she went on to complete a 6-7 (5/7) 6-2 7-5 victory on Suzanne Lenglen court after two hours and 30 minutes of action.

The American will next play Hungary's Agnes Szavay, the 29th seed.

Earlier, title contenders Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova eased into round three with straight-sets wins.

Fifth seed Jankovic, semi-finalist here for the past two years, thrashed Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1 6-2 on Suzanne Lenglen court.

"I think I'm coming back," said the Serbian, who dropped just five games against Petra Cetkovska in round one.

"When you see how I was playing a few months ago, it was really disastrous. I wasn't moving well, I was making so many errors, my game was completely off, as well as my confidence.

"Now I think I'm on the right track. I want to get back into the spotlight. I haven't played great tennis since the end of last year."

Seventh seed Kuznetsova was equally as impressive, the 2006 finalist from Russia thrashing Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva 6-0 6-2 on Court Two.

Elsewhere, France's Marion Bartoli, 13th seed, looked on the verge of tears after being dumped out of her home grand slam, losing 6-3 7-5 to Italian Tathiana Garbin.

Bartoli later admitted she did not feel 100% on court, saying: "I was a bit tired and a bit sick. It's like a bit of a sore throat, and my nose is running.

"I was not really fit. So it was really hard for me."

Other winners on the fifth day of action at Roland Garros were 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki, 24th seed Aleksandra Wozniak and unseeded pair Jarmila Groth and Lourdes Dominguez Lino.