{blackbabes} Robson defeats V. Williams at Italian Open

ROME — Laura Robson overcame strong winds to beat Venus Williams 6-3, 6-2 at the Italian Open on Monday and set up a second-round match with top-ranked Serena Williams.

Both players struggled with the wind at the Foro Italico, with Robson hitting eight double-faults and Venus six. However, Venus' errors came at more inopportune times, with two double-faults in the final game.

At No. 39, Britain's Robson is ranked 15 spots below Venus. The 19-year-old Robson won the Wimbledon junior title at 14.

Serena, who won the Madrid Open on Sunday, watched the match from the stands.

"(Robson) has a great game. She's really young, still. She's just so free and she looks great on the court and she's so smooth and she's a lefty, so that just adds a notch to her whole level," said Serena, whose only title at this clay-court tournament came in 2002. "I've never played her before. I've always wanted to. So I have a tough second-round match."

The top eight seeds have first-round byes.

In other matches, ninth-seeded Samantha Stosur cruised past Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan 6-2, 6-3; Sabine Lisicki of Germany eliminated American qualifier Mallory Burdette 6-1, 6-2; and Italian wild-card entry Nastassja Burnett defeated 2008 finalist Alize Cornet of France 6-2, 6-2.

In men's action, 11th-seeded Marin Cilic beat Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-2 and Italian wild card Potito Starace rallied past Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to set up a match against second-seeded Roger Federer.

Meanwhile, 10th-seeded Janko Tipsarevic withdrew from the tournament with bronchitis and Lukas Rosol took his place in the draw.

This tournament is the last major warm-up for the French Open, the year's second Grand Slam, which starts May 26.