HAMBURG, Germany -- Venus Williams, ranked No. 1, beat Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-2 Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Betty Barclay Cup.

The top-seeded Williams, who won the clay-court event in 1999 and 2001, struggled in the second set before dispatching Schiavone, who had won just one match in six tournaments entering Hamburg.

Williams big forehand proved to be the decisive factor along with her willingness to approach the net.

Having swiftly established a 4-0 lead in taking the opening set, Williams needed to hold off a break point in the opening game of the second set and then wait until she led 3-2 to gain the only break. That came as Schiavone netted an awkward backhand after the ball landed close to the baseline.

"I kept my errors down to a point and I did hit quite a few winners," Williams said.

"I would like to have got my first serve percentage up, but other than that it was okay. I'm not going to change my game and start hitting loopy balls on the clay. I'm going to make it happen in a big way by being aggressive."

Sixth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova beat Marta Marrero 6-1, 6-1, and Barbara Rittner beat Elena Likhovtseva 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Eighth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario defeated Adriana Serra Zanetti of Italy 6-1, 6-3.

Qualifier Anca Barna defeated seventh-seeded Patty Schnyder 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; Martina Mueller rallied past Tamarine Tanasugarn 3-6, 6-0, 6-0; and Cristina Torrens Valero beat qualifier Angelika Bachmann, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Nicole Pratt defeated Andrea Glass, 6-2, 6-3.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.