Maria Sharapova eased into the third round at Wimbledon, defeating France's Severine Bremond 6-0 6-3 under a spell of rare sunshine on Centre Court. The Russian rattled through the opener without dropping a game and, after a momentary loss of focus, closed the match in one hour 17 minutes.

Sharapova now meets Ai Sugiyama, who she beat on her way to her 2004 title.

There were also wins for French Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Ivanovic secured her place in the last 32 with a hard-fought 6-4 6-3 win over Meilen Tu.

The Serbian sixth seed, 19, broke world number 38 Tu in the opening game but had to save two break points in the next and was made to work for the win.

Ivanovic said after her match: "It was very tough for me. I don't know how much the score shows that, but it was a fight.

"I want to perform the best I can here, that's my goal. I want to take it step by step but there will be many hard matches to come."

The French Open runner-up's very next match will be against France's Aravane Rezai, who ousted Italian 29th seed Francesca Schiavone 6-4 2-6 6-4.

Three-time champion Venus Williams enjoyed a comfortable 6-2 6-2 victory over Hana Sromova on Court One.

But the American 23rd seed was making no predictions about how far she can go this year despite her easy win.

"I'm solid and I feel like I have a good base to keep playing aggressively," said the 27-year-old.

"I'm constantly looking to go up another level and as long as I can play aggressive and stay relaxed I can get a result."

Slovakian 10th seed Daniela Hantuchova had to dig deep to beat Russian Elena Likhovtseva 7-5 7-6 (7-3).

Nicole Vaidisova, the 14th seed, had a straightforward 6-3 6-2 win over Australian Nicole Pratt on Court 11.

There was also easy progress for fifth seed Kuznetsova in the next match on that court.

The Russian saw off unseeded American Bethanie Mattek 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 to advance.

Nadia Petrova wasted little time against India's Sania Mirza, the 11th seed dispatched her 6-2 6-2.

There were also wins for eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze and 12th seed Elena Dementieva, while Austria's Tamira Paszek came from a set down to see off French 17th seed Tatiana Golovin 6-2 3-6 6-1.

She was joined in making an early exit by Italian 21st seed Tathiana Garbin, who lost 6-1 6-3 to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Russian Chakvetadze beat Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus 6-2 6-1 and Dementieva beat Iveta Benesova 6-2 6-2.

Sugiyama, the 26th seed, saw off France's Alice Cornet 6-4 6-0 6-3 to advance.

Courtesy bbc.co.uk

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