US fifth seeds Venus and Serena Williams withdrew today from the French Open women's doubles to allow Serena to focus on her singles challenge, tournament organisers announced.
The sisters, who won Wimbledon and the Olympics together last year, experienced contrasting fortunes in the first round of the singles.
Venus, the second seed, was beaten by unseeded Austrian Barbara Schett on Monday; Serena laboured before finally beating Frenchwoman Sarah Potkowski in three sets yesterday.
In today’s women’s singles, number 12 seed Kim Clijsters beat Mariana Diaz-Oliva 7-5, 6-1 to advance to the third round.
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The 17-year-old Belgian struggled initially on a sun-drenched Court One at Roland Garros before overcoming her gutsy Argentine opponent.