Serena Williams launched her Wimbledon title challenge by defeating Neuza Silva 6-1, 7-5 in her first-round match today. The first set took only 27 minutes for the second seed to complete but the second set was more difficult.
Silva held her opening service game in the second set and began to match Williams with her backhand slice proving particularly effective. Williams upped the pace in a titanic eighth game, one cross-court forehand leaving her opponent beaten at the net, but three break points went begging as Silva held firm to make it 4-4. The world No154 went one better in the 10th game as she saved a match point before levelling matters again with a brilliant lunging volley. However, she could not repeat the trick two games later as Williams took advantage of her second match point to seal victory and a second-round meeting with the Australian Jarmila Groth.
Maria Sharapova had to dig deep to overcome the challenge of Viktoriya Kutuzova in her openingmatch at Wimbledon.
Sharapova, plagued by shoulder problems over the last year and seeded 24, looked out of sorts as she held on to win 7-5, 6-4.
Relieved by victory, she said: "It's so wonderful after not playing tennis for such a long time. To be on Court One at Wimbledon is unbelievable and I am so glad I pulled it out against a good opponent. She is a very aggressive player and I was just trying to hold on. The shoulder is really good. This is my fourth tournament back and my body has responded really well."
The former Wimbledon champion had her serve broken twice in the first set and could have gone 5–1 down but recovered and broke back in the sixth game and went on to win 7–5.
Sharapova, now ranked 60th in the world, was clearly not at her best but edged ahead in the second set and an awkward fall did not affect her confidence and she moved into the second round.
Fourth seed, Elena Dementieva, survived an early first-set scare to defeat fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-4, 6-1. Dementieva, a semi-finalist last year, found herself 3-1 down within the opening quarter of an hour, but battled back to take the first set.
The 27-year-old then raced into a 4-0 lead in the second set, before a double-fault allowed Kudryavtseva to break back and make it 4-1. That provided only a brief respite, as Dementieva broke again and then held her serve, firing an ace to cement victory.
There was a defeat for British No4 Mel South, who went down 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) to Mathilde Johansson of France. South recovered from an early 2-0 deficit to get back on level terms but crucially dropped her serve in the 12th game to lose the first set 7-5.
The 23-year-old from Surrey was forced to save a match point in the 10th game of the second set and held her nerve to force a tie-break, but she was unable to take advantage of a brief wobble by Johannson as the Frenchwoman closed out the match in the fading light.
Other seeds to go through on the first day of the tournament were Victoria Azarenka (8) of Belarus, who had won the first set 6–2 when her opponent Séverine Brémond Beltrame of France retired hurt, and the Russian Nadia Petrova (10), who defeated Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 6-1, 6-1.
No12 seed, Marion Bartoli, also progressed, defeating Chang Yung-Jan of Chinese Taipei without dropping a game. But there was disappointment for Switzerland's Patty Schnyder (21), who lost in straight sets to Ai Sugiyama of Japan, and Aleksandra Wozniak (23), beaten 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 by Italy's Francesca Schiavone.
Women's first-round results
2 Serena Williams (US) beat Neuza Silva (Portugal) 6-1, 7-5
24 Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Viktoriya Kutuzova (Ukraine) 7-5 6-4
16 Zheng Jie (China) beat Kristina Barrois (Germany) 7-6(2) 7-6(4)
Regina Kulikova (Russia) beat Karolina Sprem (Croatia) 4-6 7-5 6-3
Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Laura Robson (Britain) 3-6 6-4 6-2
Sania Mirza (India) beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) 6-2 2-6 6-2
28 Sorana Cirstea (Romania) beat Edina Gallovits (Romania) 7-5 6-1
27 Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) beat Sesil Karatantcheva (Kazakhstan) 6-2 7-5
Gisela Dulko (Argentina) beat Stephanie Foretz (France) 6-3 7-5
31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) beat Petra Cetkovska (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-2
Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) beat Julie Coin (France) 6-4 3-6 6-3
Dudi Sela (Israel) beat Santiago González (Mex) 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-3
Ioana Raluca Olaru (Romania) beat Nathalie Dechy (France) 1-6, 7-6 (7-0), 6-2
Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-2
Jarmila Groth (Slovakia) bt Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Shahar Peer (Israel) beat Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
8 Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat Séverine Brémond Beltrame (France) 6-2, 0-0 ret
Urszula Radwanska (Poland) bt Masa Zec-Peskiric (Slovenia) 6-3, 6-3
10 Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Anastasiya Yakimova (Belarus) 6-1, 6-1
Michelle Larcher De Brito (Portugal) bt Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) 6-2, 7-5
Virginie Razzano (France) bt Tamira Paszek (Austria) 6-0, 3-1 ret
23 Francesca Schiavone (Italy) bt 23 Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Aravane Rezai (France) bt Ayumi Morita (Japan) 6-2, 6-2
Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) bt Vesna Manasieva (Russia) 6-1, 4-6, 8-6
4 Elena Dementieva (Russia) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 6-4, 6-1
Jill Craybas (USA) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 6-4, 7-5
Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 6-1, 6-1
12 Marion Bartoli (France) bt Chan Yung-Jan (Chinese Taipei) 6-0, 6-0
Ai Sugiyama (Japan) bt 21 Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-4
Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spain) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) 6-4 6-4
Mathilde Johansson (France) bt Melanie South (Britain) 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)