Amelie Mauresmo performed her duties as defending champion with a minimum of fuss at Wimbledon on Tuesday, opening Centre Court proceedings on the traditional ‘Ladies' Day’ with an assured defeat of American Jamea Jackson.
The 27-year-old French fourth seed swept to a 6-1 6-3 victory with a few flashes of the flamboyant strokeplay that lifted her to victory over Justine Henin in last year's final.
Second and third seeds Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic also moved through.
Jankovic crushed British wildcard Anne Keothavong 6-2 6-0 while Sharapova was made to work harder before beating Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan 6-1 7-5.
For the second day running a former champion diced with danger on Court Two.
Unlike Martina Hingis on Monday three-times winner Venus Williams did not have to save any match points but was still given a scare by Russian Alla Kudryavtseva before winning 2-6 6-3 7-5.
Slovak 10th seed Daniela Hantuchova dished out a harsh lesson to 15-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, beating the junior world champion 6-0 6-1.
Womens Singles Round One:
Milagros Sequera (Ven) bt Julia Schruff (Ger) 6-3 6-2, (11) Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Vania King (USA) 6-0 6-1, (8) Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) bt Angelique Kerber (Ger) 7-5 6-3, (26) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Melanie South (Gbr) 6-3 6-2, Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Maria Elena Camerin (Ita) 3-6 6-1 7-5, Olga Govortsova (Blr) bt Greta Arn (Ger) 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1, (24) Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Jill Craybas (USA) 6-1 6-2, (27) Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Kristina Brandi (Pur) 4-6 6-2 6-2, Hana Sromova (Cze) bt Shuai Peng (Chn) 6-4 6-4, Sania Mirza (Ind) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (Rus) 6-0 6-3, Nika Ozegovic (Cro) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) 6-3 6-2, Elena Vesnina (Rus) bt (30) Olga Poutchkova (Rus) 6-1 6-3, Alize Cornet (Fra) bt Maria Kirilenko (Rus) 6-4 6-4, (19) Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) bt Elena Baltacha (Gbr) 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-2, (10) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 6-0 6-1, Tatiana Poutchek (Blr) bt Viktoria Kutuzova (Ukr) 6-4 6-2, Emilie Loit (Fra) bt Tian Tian Sun (Chn) 6-3 6-1, Jarmila Gajdosova (Svk) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) 6-2 6-4, Severine Bremond (Fra) leads Ekaterina Bychkova (Rus) 6-4 4-3, (3) Jelena Jankovic (Ser) bt Anne Keothavong (Gbr) 6-2 6-0, (31) Michaella Krajicek (Ned) bt Tzipora Obziler (Isr) 6-2 6-7 (6-8) 6-1, (4) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Jamea Jackson (USA) 6-1 6-3, Agnes Szavay (Hun) bt Eva Birnerova (Cze) 6-4 6-1, (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Julia Vakulenko (Ukr) 4-6 6-4 6-3, Katie O'Brien (Gbr) bt Sandra Kloesol (Ger) 6-3 7-5, (2) Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) 6-1 7-5, Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) bt Gisela Dulko (Arg) 5-7 6-3 8-6, Bethanie Mattek (USA) bt Vassilissa Bardina (Rus) 6-1 6-0, (23) Venus Williams (USA) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus) 2-6 6-3 7-5, Yvonne Meusburger (Aut) bt Virginie Razzano (Fra) 6-4 7-5.
