New York: Ana Ivanovic's match was a walkover. Francesca Schiavone's may as well have been.
A pair of former French Open champions moved into the third round of the US Open on Thursday. Seventh-seeded Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champ, defeated Mirjana Lucic 6-1, 6-1. And 16th-seeded Ivanovic, the 2008 titlist at Roland Garros, won when Petra Cetkovska withdrew with a quadriceps injury.
"It's never nice to win this way," said Ivanovic, a former No. 1 moving her way back up the rankings after a drop into the 60s last year. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to be through to the next round."
Schiavone's win took all of 53 minutes in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Lucic committed 32 unforced errors to only seven for Schiavone.
No. 11 Jelena Jankovic and No. 18 Roberta Vinci also advanced in straight sets.
On the men's side, ninth-seeded Tomas Berdych defeated Fabio Fognini of Italy, 7-5, 6-0, 6-0.
Serena Williams' sister, Venus, withdrew on Wednesday, citing a recently diagnosed autoimmune disease, Sjogren's syndrome, which can cause fatigue and joint pain. In an interview on Thursday on ABC's 'Good Morning America', she said she plans to return to tennis.
"Sjogren's is something you live with your whole life," Williams said. "The good news for me is now I know what's happening after spending years not knowing... I feel like I can get better and move on."
She said she suffered from swelling, numbness and "debilitating" fatigue.
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