Venus Williams, in only her second WTA match after a long illness layoff, upset world number three Petra Kvitova to reach the third round of the WTA and ATP Miami hardcourt tournament.

World number two Rafael Nadal on Friday cruised in his opener and women’s top seed Victoria Azarenka stretched her win streak to 24 matches at the $9.6 million event, but seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Williams stole the show.

“It’s definitely a big step forward,” Williams said after her 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 win. “To win these matches definitely a lot of it is mental, to get out there and believe you’re going to win and execute.

“How I’m going to do, I never really know, so it’s great to have a win like this. It’s definitely satisfying.”

Williams withdrew from last year’s US Open with the auto-immune disorder Sjogren’s syndrome, an illness that saps energy and causes joint pain. Her first tournament match since then was a first-round triumph on Wednesday.

That put Williams up against Czech third seed Kvitova, who fought to reach a third set only to be overpowered by Williams after two hours and 18 minutes.