Ivanovic cruises into second round

Wimbledon : Serbian top seed Ana Ivanovic had little trouble advancing to the second round at Wimbledon, beating Rossana De …

Wimbledon: Serbian top seed Ana Ivanovic had little trouble advancing to the second round at Wimbledon, beating Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay 6-1 6-2 in under an hour.

French Open champion Ivanovic, who reached the semi-finals here last year, had far too much power for her 103rd-ranked opponent, belting winners at will from the back of the court.

Ivanovic, 20, wrapped up the first set with little answer from the 32-year-old Paraguayan, her blistering groundstrokes off both sides proving too testing.

De Los Rios held her opening serve to take an early lead in the second set but Ivanovic was never troubled.

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De Los Rios, who was watched by her 11-year-old daughter, Ana Paula from the players' box, prolonged the end slightly when she successfully challenged an Ivanovic serve on match point which was called an ace.

The respite was short-lived, however and the Serbian favourite wrapped up the match to claim her place in the second round where she will meet France's Nathalie Dechy.

"I think I played quite well today, considering it's the first match. Especially first match on the grass. It's quite a big change but I was very happy to be back on Centre Court," Ivanovic said.

"Today's match was a tough one... I had to stay focused. I served really well and that's something that really help me. I was quite aggressive, so I was pleased with the way I played," she added.

Fourth seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Mathilde Johansson of France, but was made to work for the victory over three sets before triumphin 6-7(5) 7-5 6-3.

Her compatriot Anna Chakvetadze, seeded eighth, had similar trouble with Canadian Stephanie Dubois, but eventually won out 2-6 6-1 6-8.

Two-time champion Serena Williams is safely through to the second round at Wimbledon after beating Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 7-5 6-3.

The 26-year-old sixth seed looked flat-footed and sprayed errors all over Court One during the first set against an opponent who reached the quarter-finals at the French Open earlier this month.

Williams saved a break point at 5-5 with a big forehand drive volley and sealed a scrappy opener when Kanepi tamely served a double-fault.

The American broke early in the second set and played with more conviction from then on to wrap up victory.

"She served big and hit bigger than me," Williams said courtside. "It's good to play somebody like that to get the gist of it straight away."

While Williams was happy to have survived her opening test, there were plenty of seeds who did not.  Russia's Maria Kirilenko (19), French duo Alize Cornet (17) and Virginie Razzano (27) and Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova (30) were all catching an early flight home.

Women's Singles results - Day One

8-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Stephanie Dubois (Canada) 2-6 6-1 6-8

4-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Mathilde Johansson (France) 6-7(5) 7-5 6-3

Casey Dellacqua (Australia) beat 12-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 6-4 3-6 6-1

Edina Gallovits (Romania) beat Yvonne Meusburger (Austria) 6-1 6-2

Bethanie Mattek (United States) beat Severine Bremond (France) 5-7 6-0 6-1

Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Rika Fujiwara (Japan) 1-6 6-4 6-3

Li Na (China) beat Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) 3-6 6-0 6-1

Vera Dushevina (Russia) beat 19-Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-3 6-3

1-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Rossana De Los Rios (Paraguay) 6-1 6-2

Pauline Parmentier (France) beat Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzbekistan) 7-5 6-4

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) beat 17-Alize Cornet (France) 7-6(6) 7-6(4)

Elena Vesnina (Russia) beat Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spain) 6-7(6) 6-4 6-4

Nathalie Dechy (France) beat Yuan Meng (China) 6-7(7) 6-3 6-0

6-Serena Williams (United States) beat Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) 7-5 6-3

Elena Baltacha (Britain) beat Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-3 2-6 7-5

Evgeniya Rodina (Russia) beat 27-Virginie Razzano (France) 0-6 6-2 6-4

Jie Zheng (China) beat 30-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 6-4 6-3

Urszula Radwanska (Poland) beat Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) 6-1 6-4

Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Ioana Raluca Olaru (Romania) 6-2 6-2

18-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) beat Zuzana Ondraskova (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-2