Serena Williams came from a set down to beat Nadia Petrova on Wednesday in the second round of the $2.2 million clay-court Rome Masters.
Williams, seeded nine, took just over two hours to dispatch the Russian, with the score 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The 13-time Grand Slam winner faces Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues in the third round.
Earlier Wednesday, world No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro ended the Russian men’s charge after knocking out the country's No. 1 Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-2.
The only other Russian man in the Rome draw, Alex Bogomolov Jr., lost in the first round to 13th seed Gael Monfils of France 6-4, 6-1.
In the women’s draw, Maria Sharapova reached the third round with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over American Christina McHale on Tuesday, but will not be joined by her fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who lost 7-5, 6-4 to world No. 4 Petra Kvitova.
