LONDON, June 23: Twice former champion Serena Williams made a stuttering start at Wimbledon on Monday before overcoming big-hitting Estonian Kaia Kanepi 7-5 6-3.

The 26-year-old sixth seed looked flat-footed and struggled to keep her shots in play during the first set against an opponent who reached the quarter-finals at the French Open earlier this month.

Williams, looking for her first singles title here since 2003, survived an anxious moment at 5-5 when she saved a break point and took control after a Kanepi double-fault gifted her the opening set in 49 minutes.

“She served big and hit bigger than me,” Williams, who walked out on a sunlit court wearing a white raincoat, said at court side after an erratic performance. “It’s good to play somebody like that to get the gist of it straight away.”

Williams, eight times a grand slam champion, usually bullies opponents into submission on Wimbledon’s slick grass courts but Kanepi wielded plenty of firepower herself and at times left the American standing with booming winners.

Kanepi fired two big backhand winners in the 11th game of the first set and fluked another winner when Williams failed to bury a smash to gain a break point.

Williams averted the danger with a punishing drive volley and for the first time in the match roared her approval. In the next game Kanepi produced a couple of errors and then lamely double-faulted at 30-40.

Until that moment Williams had looked vulnerable but she began hitting the ball with more purpose in the second set and after breaking to lead 3-1 she was in full control.

Williams will play Polish wildcard Urszula Radwanska in the second round.

Results:

Men’s (prefix number denotes seeding, * denotes new result):

* 15-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Robby Ginepri (United States) 7-6 (3) 7-5 7-5; * Thomas Johansson (Sweden) bt Vince Spadea (United States) 6-7(8) 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 6-3; *Albert Montanes (Spain) bt Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 6-3 7-6(2) 6-4; 31-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt Brian Dabul (Argentina) 7-6(1) 3-6 6-3 6-4; 29-Andreas Seppi (Italy) bt Tobias Kamke (Germany) 5-7 6-3 6-2 6-4; 10-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) bt Steve Darcis (Belguim) 6-3 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3; Mischa Zverev (Germany) bt Alexander Peya (Austria) 6-3 6-4

6-4; 21-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) bt Sam Querrey (United States) 2-6 6-4 6-4 6-4; 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-3 6-2 6-2; Robin Soderling (Sweden) bt Kevin Kim (United States) 7-5 0-6 6-3 6-4; Roko Karanusic (Croatia) bt Luis Horna (Peru) 7-6(4) 6-3 6-1.

Women’s: (prefix number denotes seeding, * denotes new result):

* Li Na (China) bt Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) 3-6 6-0 6-1; * Vera Dushevina (Russia) bt 19-Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-3 6-3; 1-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) bt Rossana De Los Rios (Paraguay) 6-1 6-2; Pauline Parmentier (France) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzbekistan) 7-5 6-4; Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) bt 17-Alize Cornet (France) 7-6(6) 7-6(4); Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spain) 6-7(6) 6-4 6-4; Nathalie Dechy (France) bt Yuan Meng (China) 6-7(7) 6-3 6-0; 6-Serena Williams (United States) bt Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) 7-5 6-3; Elena Baltacha (Britain) bt Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-3 2-6 7-5; Evgeniya Rodina (Russia) bt 27-Virginie Razzano (France) 0-6 6-2 6-4; Jie Zheng (China) bt 30-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 6-4 6-3; Urszula Radwanska (Poland) bt Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) 6-1 6-4; Samantha Stosur (Australia) bt Ioana Raluca Olaru (Romania) 6-2 6-2; 18-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) bt Zuzana Ondraskova (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-2.—Reuters