Serena stutters to victory

Polish teenager awaits two-time champion

Last updated: 23rd June 2008

Serena Williams Wimbledon 2008 rd 1 joy

Serena: Anxious moments

Former champion Serena Williams survived a few anxious before defeating Kaia Kanepi in the first round at Wimbledon.

Williams, the sixth seed, had to save five break points in the opening set before eventually gaining control and sealing a 7-5 6-3 victory on Court One.

She will face Urszula Radwanska, 17-year-old sister of 14th seed Agnieszka, in the second round after the young Pole beat Klara Zakopalova.

Williams, 26, quickly fell 0-40 down on her serve in the first game of the match and had to save a total of four break points before holding serve.

She slowly began to find her range but was not having it all her own way against the in-form Kanepi, who reached her first grand slam quarter-final at the French Open recently.

Ground strokes

Kanepi, ranked 36th in the world, was happy to trade powerful ground strokes with Williams and forced another break point in the 11th game but was unable to convert it.

And the 23-year-old then gifted Williams a break of serve and the set in the next game, a weak double fault giving the American the set 7-5.

As well as Kanepi had played in the opening set, it was hard to see her coming back from a set down and Williams was quick to establish control in the second.

The 2002 and 2003 champion broke for a 3-1 lead and comfortably held serve to seal victory and book her place in the second round.

Afterwards Williams vowed that she and sister Venus, the reigning Wimbledon champion, would still be around for a number of years to come.

"I do everything Venus does. I've tried to grow out of that, but I still kind of do everything that she does," Williams said.

"But she's playing for at least a long, long, long time. So we'll both be out here for a long time. We have decades left at Wimbledon. We definitely plan on capitalising.

"I don't think I had time to play myself into this match," she added. "I had to start straight away. I'm really excited I was able to win that first game.

"The break point in the 11th game was huge. I kept thinking, 'I can't lose serve'. She was playing unbelievable to me. I felt like she wasn't making any errors. I just felt like I just had to hang in there and stay positive."