Russia’s Elena Vesnina demolished Venus Williams in the first round of Wimbledon on Monday.
Five-time Wimbledon champion Williams, who was unseeded for the tournament, did not win a game until the sixth game of the first set and fared little better in the second, going down 6-1, 6-3 to Vesnina, a doubles specialist who is the world No. 79.
Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska awaits Vesnina in the second round after the Pole brushed off a challenge from Slovakian outsider Magdalena Rybarikova.
Radwanska ousted 122nd-ranked Rybarikova 6-3, 6-3.
Elsewhere, Flavia Pennetta became the first seed to fall at Wimbledon after a straight-sets defeat to fellow Italian Camila Giorgi.
Pennetta, the 16th seed, succumbed to a 6-4, 6-3 defeat to Giorgi, who is ranked 145th in the world.
In the second round, Giorgi will play Anna Tatishvili of Georgia, who knocked out Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-2.
Australia’s Samantha Stosur reached the second round after thrashing world No. 40 Carla Suarez Navarro.
Stosur, the reigning U.S. Open champion and world No. 5, beat Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 and will now face either Dutch player Arantxa Rus in the second round.
Last year’s French Open champion Li Na booked her place in the next round by trouncing Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-1, and will now play Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
For Li, the 11th seed, the result followed a shock defeat to another outsider from Kazakhstan, Yaroslava Shvedova in the fourth round of the French Open earlier this month.
Germany’s Sabine Lisicki, the 15th seed, swept past Croatia’s Petra Martic 6-4, 6-2.
Her second round opponent will be either Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia or Greece’s Eleni Danilidou.
