New York, Sep 1 (IANS) Maria Sharapova breezed past Anastasia Yakimova in 70 minutes to advance to the third round of the US Open here Wednesday while Robin Soderling and Venus Williams pulled out due to illness.

The Russian enjoyed a comfortable 6-1, 6-1 victory over Anastasia Yakimova of Belarus in the night session, doing a far easy job from the more than the two-and-a-half hours she needed in her three-set win over Heather Watson in the first round.

Andy Roddick, seeded 21, avoided a first-round upset at the tournament he won in 2003, beating 96th-ranked compatriot Michael Russell 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

Sixth seed Robin Soderling and Venus Williams pulled out of the tournament prior to their singles matches.

Soderling was slated to face Louk Sorensen in his opening tie, but it was over before it began when the Swede was forced to withdraw due to a wrist injury and virus affection.

A couple of hours later, Williams followed up the suit. The American pulled out of her second-round match against 22nd seeded Sabine Lisicki due to an illness called Sjogren's Syndrome.

In a quick mismatch, Sharapova had 28 winners to two for her opponent. She won 59 points to 32 for Yakimova and saved all five break points against her.

Sharapova, winner three Grand Slam titles, will play No. 26 Flavia Pennetta in the next round.

"The next match is certainly not the final," she said. "We are in the third round. There are many more to go. It only gets tougher from here."

"But that is what is so special about being a winner at the end of the tournament. You have to play every match. It is a road. Hopefully, I will get to that stage."

After breezing through the first two sets against Russell, Roddick began to run into trouble in the third, and then fell behind by a break in the fourth.

Roddick, who turned 29 Tuesday, will next face 18-year-old countryman Jack Sock. Both players hail from Nebraska.

"I was joking with someone today," Roddick said. "I said, 'I think we are the only two teenagers to play tennis in Nebraska in the last 30 years, and we are both in the Open'."

In the earlier matches of the women's second round, second-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva had to go through three ragged sets to reach the third round, beating 69th-ranked Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

Eighth-seed Marion Bartoli of France failed to advance, losing to US player Christina McHale 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Australia's Samantha Stosur, seeded nine, powered off American Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-4.

China's Peng Shuai, No. 13 of the tournament, dispatched Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets of 6-2, 6-4.

In the men's first round matches, 2009 champion Juam Martin Del Potro subdued Italian Filippo Volandri 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 in 1 hour, 28 minutes.

Tenth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro was eliminated by Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.

Spaniard Feliciano Lopez defeated Japan's Tatsuma Ito 6-2, 6-4, 6-4, while 12th-seeded Gilles Simon of France bt Ricardo Mello from Brazil 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.