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Published: Sunday March 29, 2009 MYT 7:12:00 AM
Updated: Sunday March 29, 2009 MYT 11:17:15 AM

Serena, Murray advance at Key Biscayne

KEY BISCAYNE, Florida (AP): Serena Williams reached the third round at the Sony Ericsson Open by beating teenage wild card Alexa Glatch 6-2, 6-3, leaving only two American women in the draw on Saturday.

The other was Venus Williams, who was playing her second-round match later. Glatch conceded her generation in the U.S. has yet to produce a player worthy of succeeding the Williams sisters.

"There is a gap there right now," Glatch said. "You can't deny that. It's very tough out here."

The showing at Key Biscayne by American women is hardly a surprise, because only four are ranked in the top 100, and the sisters are the lone U.S. players in the top 30. No American teenager is being heralded as a future Grand Slam champion, either, and former No. 1 Lindsay Davenport says the situation is worrisome.

"We don't really have anyone right now," Davenport said. "If you look at the rankings, with only Venus at (age) 28 and Serena at 27, it's not a good state."

The state of Serena's game is just fine, however. She needed only one swing to reassert her superiority at the tournament where she's most dominant, pulling a return winner crosscourt on the first point to make a quick impression on Glatch.

"She just nailed it," Glatch said. "I don't think I even saw it. I was like, 'OK, here we go."'

An hour later, there Glatch went. For the top-ranked Williams, the victory was the first step in her bid for a record sixth Key Biscayne title. Seeded players had first-round byes.

Ninth-seeded Nadia Petrova and 10th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska needed three sets each to win their second-round matches, while all three Chinese women - Zheng Jie, Peng Shuai and Li Na - won in straight sets.

On the men's side, fourth-seeded Andy Murray was broken three times as he struggled to put away Juan Monaco of Argentina 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and eighth-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain took care of German qualifier Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-4.

Other winners included David Ferrer of Spain and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, but No. 14 David Nalbandian was upset by Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-1, 6-3.

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