Serena Wins but Doesn’t Like Style

Resplendent in a fluorescent, lime-green tennis dress that matched perfectly with the balls she was about to hit, Serena Williams fairly lighted up the stadium upon her arrival for a second-round match Wednesday at the JPMorgan Chase Open.

She just had a little trouble turning the lights out on Eleni Daniilidou.

The top-seeded Williams, who won the first set in 22 minutes, had to battle harder against Daniilidou and the afternoon heat to record a 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory Wednesday despite an uneven performance at the Home Depot Center.

“I think I struggled a little bit too much,” Williams said. “It was just really hot out there, too hot for me to be too cheerful at that point. She definitely picked up her level, and I kind of lost my focus.”

Williams won the first five games of the match and broke her opponent to begin the second set.

Daniilidou made it competitive in the middle of the second set, hitting a backhand passing shot for a break point in the sixth game and converting on a Williams forehand in the net for a 3-3 score. With the score at deuce in the seventh game, Daniilidou took her first lead at 4-3 following errors on consecutive forehands by Williams.

The players held serve the rest of the way to force the tiebreaker, in which Williams took control with leads of 3-0 and 5-1.

“I played a really good tiebreak,” said Williams, who has a 23-4 record in seven tournaments since an eight-month layoff after surgery on her left knee in August.

Williams will play Arantxa Parra Santonja, a 6-0, 7-6 (2) winner over Anca Barna, in a third-round match today.

“It was OK,” Williams said. “Solid.”

Laguna Beach resident Lindsay Davenport played a solid match as well, breaking Anne Kremer in her opponent’s first service game in each set of a 7-5, 6-2 victory at night.

In other matches, fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Maria Vento-Kabchi, 6-3, 6-3. Sixth-seeded Ai Sugiyama beat Nicole Pratt, 6-2, 6-4, and No. 10 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi beat Daniela Hantuchova, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Eighth-seeded Vera Zvonareva advanced in a walkover after Tina Pisnik of Slovenia withdrew because of a strained neck.

Unseeded Jelena Kostanic beat No. 9 Patty Schnyder, 6-1, 7-6 (5). Chanda Rubin, the 2002 tournament champion, rallied to defeat Iveta Benesova, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, and No. 15 Amy Frazier won, 6-4, 6-4, over Barbara Schett.