• Wimbledon, Day Two

Serena survives scare to progress

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Serena Williams avoided a first-round upset at Wimbledon, but the defending champion did not have things all her own way against Aravane Rezai.

Williams, who is on the comeback trail after almost a year out with injuries and a major health scare, burst into tears after sealing her place in the second round with a 6-3 3-6 6-1 victory.

Having been ranked as high as world No. 15 in October last year, Rezai has slipped outside the top 50 after struggling for form this season. Despite having won just four matches all year, Rezai started confidently and capitalised on a slow start from the champion to snatch an early break.

However, as Williams began to find her range, Rezai was unable to keep pace as Williams blazed through five games to take control of the opening set. Rezai held serve to stop the rot, but it merely delayed the inevitable as the American served out for the set.

After winning six of the last seven games to win the opening set, it looked like the No. 7 seed was on course for a routine victory, but Rezai had other ideas. With Williams still showing signs of rust, a double fault handed Rezai the break, and the American was left to rue ten unforced errors as her opponent forced the match to a decider.

With the match in the balance, a break in the third set broke Rezai's resistance, and Williams allayed any concerns over her stamina as she streaked away to victory.

Caroline Wozniacki raced through her opening match © Getty Images

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The defending champion is on a collision course with world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, with the pair drawn to meet in the semi-finals. The top seed has admitted she is wary of Williams' return, but raced through her opening match as she made a powerful start in her bid to end her grand slam duck. Wozniacki hit just four unforced errors, dropping three games on her way to a 6-2 6-1 victory over Spain's Arantxa Parra Santonja.

The world No. 1 will now meet world No. 96 Virginie Razzano, who enjoyed an emotional win over Sania Mirza. The world No. 96 claimed her first victory since her fiancé Stephane Vidal died last month.

But while Williams and Wozniacki avoided an upset, another former world No. 1 was the first major casualty at the All England Club. Jelena Jankovic has never reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, and her curse continued as the Serb suffered her first opening-round defeat at a slam since 2005, falling 5-7 6-4 6-3 to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Jankovic, who won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon with Jamie Murray in 2007, clinched the opening set, but the tide turned after a late break in the second as the Spaniard sealed a second-round clash with Romania's Monica Niculescu.

Another high-profile casualty was Sam Stosur, who crashed to a 6-3 6-4 defeat to Hungary's Melinda Czink, but there was no such problem for former champion Maria Sharapova, who negotiated a potential bananaskin with a 6-2 6-1 win over Anna Chakvetadze.

Ana Ivanovic is battling her way back towards the top of the women's game and the Serb showed no mercy against a misfiring Melanie Oudin, romping to a 6-0 6-1 victory.

Meanwhile, eighth seed Petra Kvitova needed just 55 minutes to sail past American Alexa Glatch 6-2 6-2 and set up a second-round clash with British No. 3 Anne Keothavong. Andrea Petkovic was among the early winners on Tuesday, with a 6-3 6-4 win over Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France.

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