Venus Williams moved into round 2 of the Cincinnati Masters after upsetting 14th seed Maria Kirilenko in a marathon three set encounter 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 in 2 hours and 27 minutes after overcoming some second set jitters. Kirilenko put up a great show but just fell short in the third set.

Venus won the first set after breaking the Russian’s serve at the right time at 4-3 as she successfully won served it out successfully. Venus was untested on her serve, which did not let her down at any time. With winners coming from both ends, it was Kirilenko who broke down first as Venus was too good in the ninth game. With 12 winners and 3 aces, Willliams wrapped the set in 33 minutes.

Kirilenko edges the second set in the tie-break as she broke the American’s serve twice while she served for the match. Kirilenko really took charge of the situation as her serves and her ground strokes did not disappoint her and helped her to extend this match into the third set. In a set that lasted for just over an hour, it was the error count that costed Williams the set-16 of them as Kirilenko just kept waiting for her chances and took the opportunity with both hands when it came knocking.

The final set was one way traffic for the American, who just raised the bar from the start as she displayed some really authoritative tennis. It was a shame for the match to finish on a double fault as Williams raised her hand in triumph to progress to the next round.