Williams will face Alicia Molik in the quarterfinals after the Australian beat Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-0.

King perked up in the second set, taking a 2-0 lead before Williams fought back.

"In the first set, she wasn't able to get a racket on the ball," Williams said. "But she played better in the second set after she started taking some chances."

Williams, coming off a win at the Korea Open on Sunday, broke King to go up 4-3 and then won the match with a crosscourt forehand to the corner that King returned into the net.

In other matches, India's Sania Mirza defeated Australia's Casey Dellacqua 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, while France's Camille Pin knocked off Croatia's Jelena Kostanic Tosic 6-1, 6-0.

In the men's tournament, Spain's David Ferrer beat South Africa's Wesley Moodie 7-6 (5), 6-2 to advance to the third round.

Ferrer became the tournament's top-seeded player when world No. 1 and defending champion Roger Federer pulled out before the start because he needs to rest after the U.S. Open and Davis Cup.

"I don't feel pressure at being the top seed," Ferrer said. "Who knows what would have happened if Roger was here? It's unfortunate that he couldn't make it but I can't think about that and just have to take care of my own game."

In other men's second-round matches, Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, seeded fourth, defeated Slovenia's Luka Gregorc 6-3, 6-3 and Sweden's Thomas Johansson posted a 6-4, 6-4 win over American Justin Gimelstob.

"Nothing is changed because Roger is out," Hewitt said. "I'm just trying to win as many matches as possible, nothing is given. There are still a lot of good players here."