CINCINNATI (REUTERS) - Former world number one Venus Williams moved through the first round of the Cincinnati Masters when she defeated compatriot Lauren Davis in straight sets on Monday (Aug 12).

Wild card Williams won 7-5 6-2 on centre court as she maintained her streak of never having lost a set to Davis, having beaten her four times.

Williams fended off seven of the eight break points she faced, and won 61 per cent of points when returning the Davis second serve.

Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva and Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich earlier won three set matches.

Putintseva defeated Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2 7-6(3) 6-3 and Sasnovich beat Astra Sharma of Australia 6-1 4-6 6-1.