Wimbledon - Women's Draw: Four-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams once again survived a scare in the opening set before defeating Britain's Anne Keothavong 7-5 6-2 in her second round Wimbledon match on Centre Court.
Keothavong, ranked 92nd in the world, had seventh seed Williams rattled in an opening set which lasted 69 minutes and forced the frustrated American into a series of errors.
But when Williams finally prevailed 7-5, Keothavong's resistance wilted and she bowed out 6-2 in the second.
Williams, who had to save nine break points with the scores level at two games all in the opening set, was quick to praise Keothavong's efforts.
"Anne played really well, she hit a lot of deep shots and some smart serves," Williams told BBC1. "If she can play this well, she definitely has a future in the game.
"I think I lost a bit of focus after I made some errors but I got it back, thankfully.''
Williams now plays Sania Mirza, the 32nd seed from India, who lost the first eight games of her clash with Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain before scraping through 9-7 in the final set.
From 2-0 down in the second after losing the opener to love, Mirza won the second set 6-4 before finally polishing off her opponent in a 16-game final set which lasted 68 minutes.
Second seed Jelena Jankovic wasn't stretched though as she eased past Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.
Jankovic, a semi-finalist in the first two Grand Slams of 2008, raced through the first set in just 22 minutes before completing a 6-1 6-3 victory.
Her title hopes were later boosted after third seed Maria Sharapova disappeared from her half of the draw with a shock defeat to fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva.
Fifth seed Elena Dementieva had to battle back from a set down before seeing off Timea Bacsinszky.
The Swiss underdog took the opener 6-4 before the Russian, a former US Open runner-up, took the next two 6-3 6-3.
Ninth seed Dinara Safina, the runner-up at the recent French Open, scored a straightforward 6-3 6-2 victory over Su-Wei Hsieh from Chinese Tapei.
Safina has never gone past the third round at Wimbledon but will now get the chance to do so when she takes on 24th seed Shahar Peer of Israel, a 6-3 6-4 winner over France's Emilie Loit.
Former champion Lindsay Davenport was forced to pull out because of a knee injury.
Davenport, who won the title in 1999, was due to face Argentina's Gisela Dulko but she informed tournament officials of her decision to withdraw just hours before the match.
The American was troubled by the injury during her first round victory over Renata Voracova.
Russian Vera Zvonareva, seeded 13, saw her hopes ended in round two after losing in three sets to Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn.
Tanasugarn won a first set tie-break 12-10 and, after Zvonareva had levelled by taking the second 6-4, the Thai wrapped up victory by taking the decider 6-3.
Tanasugarn is ranked 60th in the world but won a grasscourt warm-up title before Wimbledon and has reached the fourth round three times at the All England Club.
Austria's Sybille Bammer (26) was another seed to perish as she went out 6-7 6-4 3-6 to China's Shuai Peng.
Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki (31) made light work of near namesake, Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, dropping just two games in a 6-1 6-1 victory.
And Bulgarian 16th seed Victoria Azarenka was also untroubled as she eased past Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-1 6-3.