Maria Sharapova came through a tough battle with Kristina Mladenovic on Monday to make it into the second round at Wimbledon.
The 2004 champion secured a straight-sets win in the first women’s match on centre court, but it was a tight affair against the up-and-coming Frenchwoman, with the third seed eventually triumphant 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
She will next face Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito or Melanie Oudin of the United States.
“My opponent played extremely well so I’m really happy to be in the second round,” Sharapova said.
“I was happy with the way I stepped up in the second set. It’s always nice when you’re not breaking somebody to get ahead and win that tiebreaker.
“It was still pretty tough in the end but I’m glad I got it done in two.”
Victoria Azarenka moved into the Wimbledon second round as the world No.2 played through the pain barrier to defeat Portugal’s Maria Joao Koehler 6-1 6-2.
Azarenka, the reigning Australian Open champion, recovered from a nasty fall in the second set that left her in tears to earn a meeting with Italy’s Flavia Pennetta in the next round. Pennetta accounted for Elena Baltacha of Britain 6-4 6-1.
The Belarusian had looked set for a routine victory until the right knee injury threatened to derail her latest attempt to reach a first Wimbledon final.
“It was such a shock to me. I slipped and felt my body collapse,” second-seeded Azarenka said.
“It was very emotional. I was in shock. I was in such pain at the beginning – it wouldn’t let go.”
Azarenka was leading 6-1 1-0 on court one when she slipped while trying to move into position after serving.
She collapsed in agony and immediately began to cry before shouting out ‘oh my god’.
After a delay of around 10 minutes, the 23-year-old continued playing but with her knee heavily strapped.
Azarenka has suffered semi-final heartache at Wimbledon for the past two years, losing to the eventual champion, Petra Kvitova in 2011 and Serena Williams 12 months ago.
In the biggest upset of the opening day, fifth-seeded Italian Sara Errani was thrashed 6-3 6-2 by Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig.
American 26th seed Varvara Lepchenko is also out, losing 6-2 4-6 6-4 to Czech Eva Birnerova.
Serbian 12th seed Ana Ivanovic defeated Virginie Razzano of France 7-6 (7-1) 6-0; 27th-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova beat American Lauren Davis 6-4 6-0; while Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, the No.29 seed, downed Vania King of the US 4-6 6-3 6-1.
No.16 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia knocked out Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-2 7-5; Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, seeded 19th, accounted for countrywoman Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-2 6-2; and No.22 seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania prevailed over Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele 7-5 7-6 (7-3).
Other first-round winners include Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, Italian Karin Knapp, Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia.
