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By: Tony Callaio
Venus Williams entered the Family Circle Cup in 2004 for the first time, and walked away the winner. That fete hasn’t happened since. She returned in 2005 with a third round finish, and again in 2007 where she came up just short of another title, losing to Jelena Jankovic in a three-set semifinal thriller. This year, the seven-time Grand Slam champion and current World No. 5 faced India’s No. 1, Sania Mirza, in Family Circle Magazine Stadium.
Williams, who carried a 10-2 life time record at the Cup going into the match, easily took the first set 6-1 and was up 3-1 in the second set when Mirza stormed back taking the next five games before finishing off the set, 6-3.
In the third set, both players were broken in their first two service games before Williams held for the lead at 3-2. Mirza dropped serve two more times as Williams closed out the third set and match at 6-2. Williams will play No. 16 Sabine Lisicki of Germany who downed qualifier Llenka Wienerova of Slovakia, 6-4, 6-3.
 Patty Schnyder, of Switzerland, playing in her 13th consecutive Family Circle Cup, has been a fan favorite at Charleston for many years. She is now three tournaments behind the record-holder, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who competed in the tournament 16 consecutive times. She carried a 27-12 lifetime record at the Cup heading into her match on Wednesday against Elena Vesnina.
Schnyder squared off with the Russian for only the second time in her career. The last time they met was in 2008 at Amelia Island with Vesnina upending Schynder in three sets. The result this time was no different and Vesnina dismissed the No. 8 seed, 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5. This is the first time since 2001 that the two-time Cup finalist has lost her first match of the event.
American qualifier Melanie Oudin continued to impress as she took down the No. 9 seed, Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, 7-5, 6-0. Wozniak was a finalist last week at Ponte Vedra Beach, losing to Carolina Wozniacki in the final. Oudin is now riding on a four-match winning streak taking out two opponents in the qualifiers to get into the main draw at the Cup, and Olga Savchuk (UKR) in round one. She will face the tournament’s No. 6 seed, Marion Bartoli of France, on Thursday.
The evening feature match featured No. 5 seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark as she rolled over Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia, 6-3, 6-3.
Other second-round matches:
[10] Shaui Peng (CHN) d. Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 7-5, 2-6, 7-5
Viktoriya Kutuzova (UKR) d. [11] Alona Bondarenko (UKR) 6-4, 7-5
Anastasia Rodionova (RUS) d. [12] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 6-2, 6-4
[13] Virginie Razzano (FRA) d. Stephanie Dubois (CAN) 6-3, 7-6(3)
[16] Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. [Q] Lenka Wienerova (SVK) 6-4, 6-3
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) vs [Q] Shenay Perry (USA) 6-2, 6-3
Melinda Czink (HUN) d. Vania King (USA) 6-4, 6-2
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