Venus Williams Advances to 2nd Round in Wimbledon 2010

Number two seed Venus Williams began her run for her sixth Wimbledon Championship with a smooth 6-3, 6-2 win over Rossana de los Rios. Williams used her strong serve and 31 outright winners to advance to the second round where she will meet a very hot Ekaterina Makarova.

Makarova has been on quite a roll of late and brings a big serve and the go-for-broke mentality that led her through the qualifying round and onto the championship at Eastbourne last week. Ekaterina caught favored Agnes Szavay by surprise on Monday with a hard fought 6-4, 7-6 (2) triumph. With her win over Azarenka in the finals on Sunday, Makarova showed she will be a test for anyone this week. It will be the first meeting between Williams and Makarova on Wednesday.

Fifth seed and French Open Champion Francesca Schiavone came lout flat against Vera Dushevina ad was overcome by the Russian 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-1. The feisty play that helped Schiavione overcome Stosur in the final at Roland Garros was missing and the veteran Dushevina jumped on the opportunity.

At 5-5 in the second set, Schiavone failed to capitalize on four possible break points. After the letdown, she could not withstand Vera’s charge and was broken to lose the set and the momentum as Dushevina cruised through the third set in 31 minutes.

Sixteen-year old Laura Robson gave the hometown fans plenty to cheer about as she pushed fourth seed Jalena Jankovic to the limit in a tight 6-3, 7-6 (5) Center Court loss. The young British star fired 13 aces at Jankovic who has recently moved up to the third tour ranking.

Veteran Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin advanced with convincing wins. The eight seeded Clijsters put away contentious Maria Elen Camerin 6-0, 6-3 while Henin defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-4, 6-3. The two former number ones are headed for a round of sixteen clash.

Clijsters will next meet Karolina Sprem who overcame Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-3. Fellow Belgian youngster Yanina Wickmayer, seeded 15th, just ahead of Henin, joins 13th seed Shahar Peer, 12th seed Nadia Petrova and 11th seed Marion Bartoli in the second round.

Tournament favorite and top seed Serena Williams is scheduled to make her debut on Tuesday.

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