Intro:

Defending champion Serena Williams, and world number five Simona Halep, both recorded straight-sets victories to move into the third round of the Madrid Open on Wednesday.

Script:

Serena Williams breezed into the third round of the Madrid Open with victory over Shuai Peng on Wednesday.

Williams broke her Chinese opponent three times for a 14th successive victory on the clay of the Magic Box tennis centre, where the top-seeded American is looking to defend her title.

Williams, the only woman to have won the title in Madrid more than once, won the first eight points of the match and went on to take the opening set after a forehand error from Peng.

The defending champion hit a forehand winner to close out the match 6-2, 6-3 to set up a meeting with Carla Suarez Navarro in the third round.

Simona Halep became the next seed to secure her place in round three as she beat Lara Arruabarrena of Spain 6-4, 6-4.

It wasn't entirely easy going for Halep - after racing to a 3-0 lead, her opponent won four games to take the lead, but the Romanian broke again to serve out the first set.

She took a break lead in the second set which she then protected throughout.

Halep will now face either Sabine Lisicki or compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu in the next round.