• Wimbledon, Day One

Venus cruises through Wimbledon opener

ESPN.co.uk will be providing live scores and analysis from Wimbledon throughout the tournament.

Wimbledon seedings
Wimbledon Day One Gallery
Men's round-up: Nadal strolls into second round

Venus Williams may be languishing as the 23rd seed, but the five-time Wimbledon champion is likely to be a threat to all judged on her 6-3 6-1 demolition of Akgul Amanmuradova.

The Uzbek has no pedigree at the highest level and it proved the ideal starting point for Williams, given she has played little tennis this year.

Williams wandered on court and immediately turned heads with an outfit that was open at the back, but it was soon that her tennis became the talking point.

The first couple of games went with serve, as Williams eased into the contest. She stepped up her play as the opening set wore on and a break of serve was enough to secure her an advantage.

Losing the first set sapped what little belief Amanmuradova had in her and she took just one further game as Williams eased into the second round where she will face Kimiko Date-Krumm who ousted Katie O'Brien in the first round.

Sixth seed Francesca Schiavone overcame a second-set wobble to beat Australian Jelena Dokic under the roof on Centre Court. The sixth seed started her match in the open air, but when the rain arrived on Monday afternoon, organisers decided to employ the roof.

Dokic had been in the ascendancy after racing through the second set, but the brief delay appeared to benefit Schiavone, who came out stronger to wrap up a 6-6 1-6 6-3 victory. Schiavone awaits the winner of the first-round clash between Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and Aleksandra Wozniak, which fell victim to the weather on Monday.

Second seed Vera Zvonareva was forced to dig deep to beat world No. 115 Alison Riske in three sets. Last year's Wimbledon finalist looked to be cruising after racing throught the opneing set, but Riske battled back to take the match to a decider. The American battled hard, but faltered in the final stages as Zvonareva wrapped up a 6-0 3-6 6-3 win with an ace.

Zvonareva will now meet fellow Russian Elena Vesnina in the second round following Vesnina's 6-4 6-3 win over Spain's Laura Pous-Tio.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.