Tennis: Venus and Navratilova out

8.00am

LONDON - A shell shocked Venus Williams suffered her earliest Wimbledon exit in seven years today when falling in the second round to Croatian tennis player Karolina Sprem.

The champion in 2000 and 2001 and runner-up to younger sister Serena for the last two years, Williams fell apart as shadows crept across centre court to go down 7-6 7-6.

"It's not a whole barrel of laughs," she said.

"But I guess it's not possible to be a winner or a finalist every year."

Shanking groundstrokes both long and wide, third-seeded Venus was never able to get a foothold in the match as it ran away from her in 102 agonising minutes.

Sprem, ranked 30th in the world, could hardly miss as the increasingly-frustrated American lurched from one crisis to another.

The Croatian faltered while serving for the match at 5-3 and allowed Venus back into the contest.

Williams held two set points in the second tiebreak but double faulted on the first and netted a simple forehand on her second.

Sprem converted on her first match point when Venus looped a loose forehand long.

The loss was Venus' earliest in any grand slam since the French Open in 2001 when she lost in the first round.

Fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo suffered no such mishap, thrashing Jelena Kostanic, of Croatia, 6-2 6-3 to reach the second round.

Women's seventh seed Jennifer Capriati also advanced when brushing aside Claudine Schaul, of Luxembourg, 6-2 6-2 for her first win of the tournament.

Coria beat the South African Moodie 6-4 6-7 6-3 6-7 6-3 in a match which Wimbledon officials believe is the first to span four days.

"I've never been in this kind of situation before but it was worth the wait," Coria said with a grin.

The result meant Coria, who had never won a tour-level match on grass before his run to the Ordina Open final last weekend, finally cracked his first-round jinx at Wimbledon on his third visit to the event.

"I said at Roland Garros that I wanted to improve how I play on this surface, and it will be very good for me to improve my game and feel well within myself," the French Open runner-up said.

Roddick was not at his best, but was happy to advance.

"I felt it was tough out there," the American said.

"The conditions, you know, the wind was swirling in there.

"I was not feeling comfortable out there. I got through it. You know, I feel like there's a lot of room for improvement from today.

"But I got through. That's the thing I was looking for."

Argentine Gisela Dulko once again cut short Martina Navratilova's remarkable renaissance with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 second-round victory over the nine-time former champion.

Dulko beat Navratilova, 47, easily in the first round of the French Open last month on the Czech-born American's return to grand slam singles action after a 10-year absence, but this time she had to dig deep to avoid a humiliating loss.

Navratilova dropped only one game in thrashing Catalina Castano in the first round and looked set to avenge her Paris defeat when she whipped through the first set against world No 59 Dulko in fading sunlight on court three.

The years finally caught up with Navratilova in the second set, though.

Dulko levelled the match with an ace and an early break in the third put the relieved Argentine on the way to a face-saving victory.

Results of women's singles matches today (prefix denotes seeding):

Second round:

Marion Bartoli (France) bt Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) 6-3 6-3

2-Anastasia Myskina (Russia) bt Aniko Kapros (Hungary) 5-7 6-2 6-4

Gisela Dulko (Argentina) bt Martina Navratilova (US) 3-6 6-3 6-3

31-Amy Frazier (US) bt Emily Webley-Smith (Britain) 6-2 3-6 8-6

21-Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria) bt Jill Craybas (US) 6-2 6-3

Karolina Sprem (Croatia) bt 3-Venus Williams (US) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6)

11-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) bt Klara Koukalova (Czech Republic) 6-4 6-4

Tatiana Panova (Russia) bt Mashona Washington (US) 6-3 6-4

5-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Kristina Brandi (Puerto Rico) 6-0 1-0 retired

27-Alicia Molik (Australia) bt Teryn Ashley (US) 7-5 6-4

12-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) bt Saori Obata (Japan) 6-1 6-4

Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) bt Sandra Kleinova (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-3

13-Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt Anne Keothavong (Britain) 6-4 6-0

Denisa Chladkova (Czech Republic) bt Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 7-6 (7-5) 6-0

First round:

Henrieta Nagyova (Slovakia) bt Lina Krasnoroutskaya (Russia) 3-6 6-4 6-3

Els Callens (Belgium) bt Ashley Harkleroad (US) 6-3 5-7 6-4

Ludmila Cervanova (Slovakia) bt Barbara Schett (Austria) 3-6 6-4 6-4

9-Paola Suarez (Argentina) bt Shenay Perry (US) 6-2 6-4

Tian Tian Sun (China) bt Tathiana Garbin (Italy) 2-6 6-0 6-2

26-Lisa Raymond (US) bt Shinobu Asagoe (Japan) 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

7-Jennifer Capriati (US) bt Claudine Schaul (Luxembourg) 6-2 6-2

Jennifer Hopkins (US) bt Julia Vakulenko (Ukraine) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2

18-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) bt Myriam Casanova (Switzerland) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

Rita Grande (Italy) bt Mara Santangelo (Italy) 7-5 7-5

4-Amelie Mauresmo (France) bt Jelena Kostanic (Croatia) 6-2 6-3

Anne Kremer (Luxembourg) bt 19-Fabiola Zuluaga (Colombia) 6-4 6-3

Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) bt 24-Mary Pierce (France) 6-2 7-5

Tatiana Golovin (France) bt Alina Jidkova (Russia) 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

14-Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) bt Peng Shuai (China) 6-0 6-4

Milagros Sequera (Venezuela) bt 22-Conchita Martinez (Spain) 6-4 7-6 (8-6)

Silvija Talaja (Croatia) bt Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-4

Tatiana Perebiynis (Ukraine) bt Christina Wheeler (Australia) 6-3 6-2

Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spain) bt 29-Dinara Safina (Russia) 6-0 2-0 - retired

Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (Spain) bt Katie O'Brien (Britain) 6-4 6-4

- REUTERS