Williams extends winning streak

Serena Williams stretched her family's run of success to 26 matches with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Switzerland's Patty Schnyder in the Du Maurier Open in Montreal on Wednesday night.

Serena Williams stretched her family's run of success to 26 matches with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Switzerland's Patty Schnyder in the Du Maurier Open in Montreal on Wednesday night.

Williams and her sister Venus, who have combined to win four consecutive tournaments, are closing in on the top two places in the world rankings.

"That's our ultimate goal," Serena said. "We are producing the results and we will get better." Serena, 18, who won the Los Angeles title on Sunday, is ranked seventh on the WTA Tour; Venus, 20, is ranked third.

Williams, seeded fourth, easily dispatched Schnyder despite gusting wind and a one-hour rain delay. Last night she was due for a third-round meeting against the 11th-seeded Russian Anna Kournikova, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over the Belgian Sabine Appelmans.

The world No 1 and defending champion, Martina Hingis, beat the Russian Nadejda Petrova 6-1, 6-3, while the second-seeded Lindsay Davenport battled the wind and a minor foot injury to beat the Belgian qualifier Justine Henin 3-6, 7-6, 6-2.

Barry Cowan, of Britain, went out of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, losing 6-4, 6-1 to Paradorn Srichaphan, of Thailand, in the second round. Arvind Parmar's conqueror, Andre Sa, beat fourth-seeded Australian Mark Philippoussis 6-1, 7-6 to reach the third round.