WIMBLEDON, England -- Defending champion Venus Williams scraped through a tight first set and then pulled away for a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory against British teenager Naomi Cavaday to begin her bid for a fifth Wimbledon title.
As reigning champion, Williams was up first on "Ladies Day" on Centre Court Tuesday as the All England Club enjoyed a second spell of dry, sunny weather on a day that also featured wins by Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick and former champions Maria Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport. Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko was the top name to go out.
It took a while for the seventh-seeded Williams, playing her first grass-court match of the season, to find her game and take command against a 19-year-old wild card entry playing only her third career Grand Slam match.
"She played a great match," said Williams, who hit one serve at 125 mph. "She put a lot of pace on the ball, forced a few errors by me. I felt confident throughout the match. I felt good out there. I always feel good on that court."
Williams' potential quarterfinal opponent, No. 2-seeded Jelena Jankovic, easily advanced by beating 113th-ranked Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-3, 6-2 in a late match.
Men's No. 2 Nadal -- coming off his fourth straight French Open championship and a win at Queen's for his first grass-court title -- got off to a solid start on Centre Court. Runner-up to Roger Federer the past two years, the 22-year-old Spaniard beat 122nd-ranked German qualifier Andreas Beck 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (0).
Nadal, who never faced a break point, managed to break Beck just twice out of nine chances. He saved his best for the tiebreaker, ripping a crosscourt forehand winner for 5-0, serving his 17th ace for 6-0 and forcing an error on match point with a backhand drop shot.
"The first match is always very difficult, but I played well in the last tiebreak," Nadal said. "I was a little bit nervous today. It was tough, but I have very nice memories from the last two years."
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| Andy Roddick blasts 17 aces to help tilt a tight match. (AP) |
"I don't know if I've ever been the one that everybody's talking about," said Roddick, who has been largely overlooked as a title favorite this year. "I don't really care. I just want to win matches. To be honest, it's probably nice."
In the day's first major upset, fourth-seeded Davydenko was knocked out in the first round in straight sets by 116th-ranked German Benjamin Becker, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. It was the fifth time in seven years Davydenko failed to get past the first round; he reached the fourth round last year.
"He played good, but I played very bad," Davydenko said.
The Russian player has been at the center of an investigation into suspicious betting patterns involving a match in Poland last year when he retired citing an injury in the third set against Argentina's Martin Vassallo Arguello.
