Madrid Open 2012: Serena Williams, Nicolas Amalgro Advance On Day 2

MADRID, SPAIN - MAY 07: Serena Williams of the USA returns a ball to Elena Vesnina of Russia in her first round match during the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open tennis tournament at the Caja Magica on May 7, 2012 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

Ninth-seeded Serena Williams bested Elena Vesnina in straight sets on Day 2 to advance to the second round of the 2012 Madrid Open. No. 11 Nicolas Amalgro struggled early against Santiago Giraldo in his first round match on the men's side, but eventually won in three sets.

The 2012 Madrid Open continued with first and second round men's and women's singles action on Monday. Ninth-seeded Serena Williams scored an easy victory over Elena Vesnina to advance. Williams fired off 13 aces and 40 winners to take down the over-matched Russian 6-3, 6-1 early in the day. The win set up a match with another Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the second round.

On the men's side, the 11th-seeded Nicolas Amalgro was the highest-ranked player in play on Day 2 with Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Co. earning first-round byes. Amalgro dropped his first set to Santiago Giraldo before taking the next two sets to move on with a 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-3 victory. He saved set point four times before finally firing long to drop the first set to Giraldo. Amalgro found his footing on the slippery court afterwards, however, and will move on to face the winner between Marcel Granollers and Carlos Berlocq in the second round.

In other notable scores, No. 3 Petra Kvitova took down Marina Erakovic to advance to the third round of the women's draw.

You can check out the full men's and womens' draws at the official site of the 2012 Madrid Open.

For more from the 2012 Madrid open, stay tuned to SB Nation's dedicated tennis hub.