Five-time champion Venus Williams cruised into the last 16 at Wimbledon with a straight sets victory over Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez on Friday. The American, seeded 23, sailed through the first set but was given more of a contest in the second as she sealed a 6-0, 6-2 victory in 62 minutes.
The victory sets up a clash against Bulgarian number 32 seed Tsvetana Pironkova, who knocked her out of last year's Wimbledon quarter-finals. It was only Williams' second loss on grass to a player from outside the top 30. Pironkova is in form, having knocked out second seed Vera Zvonareva, last year's beaten finalist, in the third round.
"I'm feeling good and it's great to be ready for the second week and I've got a couple of days off to get things in order," Williams said. "Last year I wasn't on my best game but this year I'm going to look forward to playing a bit better than I did last time." Williams retired in the third round of the Australian Open with right hip injury. The US number two rarely pulls out of matches and missed all subsequent events until the Eastbourne Wimbledon warm-up, seeing her world ranking drop to 30.
Peng Shuai saw off a gutsy performance from Britain's Elena Baltacha on Thursday to become the only Chinese player to reach the third round at Wimbledon. The 20th seed recovered from losing the first set to claim a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory set up a clash with Melinda Czink, the Hungarian who knocked out Australian 10th seed Samantha Stosur in round one.
Peng was the only remaining Chinese in the singles after French Open winner Li Na was beaten by Germany's Sabine Lisicki on Thursday and Zheng Jie went out to Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi. Chinese number two Peng is on a career-high world ranking of 20 but was pushed hard by the British number one on Court 18, an 800-seater show court which now bears a plaque commemorating the longest-ever tennis match played here last year. Results from the fifth day of Wimbledon on Friday (x denotes seeding):
Men (2nd round): David Ferrer (ESP x7) bt Ryan Harrison (USA) 6-7 (6/8), 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Bernard Tomic (AUS) bt Igor Andreev (RUS) 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; Jurgen Melzer (AUT x11) bt Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/1);
Third (round): Feliciano Lopez (ESP) bt Andy Roddick (USA x8) 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 Women (2nd round):
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x1) bt Virginie Razzano (FRA) 6-1, 6-3; Shuai Peng (CHN x20) bt Elena Baltacha (GBR) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5; Maria Sharapova (RUS x5) bt Laura Robson (GBR) 7-6 (7/4), 6-3; Marion Bartoli (FRA x9) bt Lourdes Domínguez (ESP) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2;
Third (round):
Ksenia Pervak (RUS) bt Andrea Petkovic (GER x11) 6-4, 7-6 (7/2); Nadia Petrova (RUS) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 6-3, 6-2; Petra Kvitova (CZE x8) bt Roberta Vinci (ITA x29) 6-3, 6-3; Yanina Wickmayer (BEL x19) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x12) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Venus Williams (USA x23) bt Maria Jose Martinez (ESP) 6-0, 6-2; Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL x32) bt Vera Zvonareva (RUS x2) 6-2, 6-3.