Miami: Former world No one Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters made winning returns to tennis after being out with of the game with injury layoffs at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Wednesday.

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams of USA who was out of action for almost a year after pulling out of US Opend won over Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-0, 6-3 in 77 minutes.

Belgium's Clijsters, who is playing for the first time after her Australian Open semifinal loss beat Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Williams would now face off against the third seeded Petra Kvitova of Czechoslovakia, while Clijsters would play Germany's 14th-seeded Julia Goerges.

By Indian Sports News Network