Wimbledon Championships
Venue: All England Club, London Date: 21 June - 4 July
Coverage: Live on BBC One and Two, HD, Red Button, BBC Sport website (UK only), Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra; live text commentary online and on mobile phones; watch again on BBC iPlayer Full details of BBC coverage

Venus is a formidable opponent for any player on grass

Former champion Venus Williams was given a second-set scare before beating Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 6-0 6-4 to reach the third round at Wimbledon.

The second seed never let her opponent into the first set Eastbourne champion Makarova stepped up in the second.

Williams was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 but hit straight back to book a match with Alisa Kleybanova.

Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic came from a set down to beat 60th-ranked Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 4-6 6-2 6-4.

Jankovic needed one hour and 57 minutes to emerge as she continued her bid to advance past the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time.

Her superior experience eventually told but not without a struggle as the deciding set saw five breaks of serve.

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The Serb will next play 28th seed Alona Bondarenko after the Ukrainian got past Varvara Lepchenko of the USA with a 4-6 6-4 6-3 victory.

Five-time champion Williams roared through the first set against Makarova with three breaks of serve before her 22-year-old opponent, ranked 67th in the world, finally got on the board in game three of the second set.

The match looked all over when Williams broke and moved to 5-2 but Makarova rallied and broke when Williams was serving for the match, only to immediately surrender her serve for the fifth time as Williams clinched victory.

"It's great to be back and playing a good opponent on grass," she told BBC Sport. "I didn't make a lot of errors, which always helps, but she is a tough player and played well."

There was a surprise on Court Five with Israel's Shahar Peer, the 13th seed, losing to Germany's Angelique Kerber 3-6 6-3 6-4.

Number 30 seed Yaroslava Shvedova also crashed out, losing 6-3 6-4 to Russia's Regina Kulikova but 12th seed Nadia Petrova had no such problems, the Russian beating Yung-Jan Chan in straight sets.

Another Russian, the 27th seed Maria Kirilenko, eased to a 6-1 6-4 triumph against Shenay Perry of the USA and Kirilenko's compatriot Vera Zvonareva, seeded 21st, saw off Czech Andrea Hlavackova by the same scoreline.

Croatia's Petra Martic, who beat British number one Elena Baltacha in round one, withdrew from her clash against 11th seed Marion Bartoli with an abdominal injury.

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