Serena makes winning start in India

　　BANGALORE, India, March 5, 2008 - Serena Williams cruised into the quarter-finals of the 600,000-dollar WTA Bangalore Open with an error-filled win over Tzipora Obziler of Israel on Wednesday.

　　The eight-time Grand Slam champion, seeded third and given a bye in the first round, beat Obziler 7-5, 6-0 in her first singles appearance on Indian soil.

　　"I am happy to be in India and playing because, to be frank, I am not feeling 100 percent fit," said Serena, the world number 10.

　　"It took me time to settle down. I started making some errors and the balls were flying. She definitely gave a lot of pace, but she was not consistent and I did not get my rhythm.

　　"The strings were loose and once I got a tighter one, I played my usual game," she said.

　　Serena had last month missed the Paris Open and the Antwerp event to undergo dental surgery.

　　Top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and number two Venus Williams, who also got first round byes, will be in action on Thursday in India's richest tennis event.

　　Fourth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland survived a scare from Aiko Nakamura of Japan before advancing to the quarter-finals.

　　Schnyder dropped the first set on the tie-breaker, but recovered in time to take the next two sets at 6-4, 6-2 in a two-hour battle against the spirited Japanese.

　　Two seeded players, number five Agnes Szavay of Hungary and number six Sybille Bammer of Austria, were knocked out in the second round.

　　Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan served 16 aces as she came from behind to defeat Szavay 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in a match that lasted two hours and 30 minutes.

　　Amanmuradova will take on Schnyder for a place in the semi-finals.

　　Anastasia Rodionova of Russia disposed of Bammer in straight sets 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 to set up a quarter-final clash with Serena.