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. Full details of BBC coverage

Schiavone slumps to shock defeat

Five-time winner Venus Williams safely booked her place in the second round at Wimbledon with a straight-sets win over Paraguay's Rossana De Los Rios.

Belgian duo Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin both marked their SW19 returns with opening-round successes.

Clijsters, in her first appearance since 2006, beat Italy's Maria Elena Camerin while Henin was too good for Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova.

But French Open champion Francesca Schiavone was knocked out.

The fifth seed, who reached the quarter-finals last year failed to close out her match against Russia's Vera Dushevina in the second set and lost 6-7 (0-7) 7-5 6-1.

Of course, you can enjoy winning. But at the end you have to come back to work Francesca Schiavone

The Italian has not enjoyed the best of records at Wimbledon, but reached the quarter-finals last year, but after also losing in the first round at Eastbourne, she refused to accept she might have rested on her laurels after her Roland Garros win.

"It was a tough match on a different surface with a different feeling. But she played very well and I didn't take my chance in the second set," she said.

"I work hard every day like I always did in my life. Of course, you can enjoy [winning in Paris]. But at the end you have to come back to work."

There were few problems for second seed Venus Williams, Clijsters, seeded eighth and Henin, the 17th seed, who last played at Wimbledon in 2007.

Venus always looked in control against De Los Rios, ranked 91st in the world.

Although her opponent rallied briefly towards the both sets, Venus soon wrapped up the 6-3 6-2 victory and will next face Eastbourne winner Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.

"It's definitely good to be back," said Venus, seeded second behind her sister Serena, the defending champion. "I love playing on the grass."

US Open champion Clijsters, playing her third Grand Slam event since coming out of retirement in 2009, was a 6-0 6-3 winner over Camerin.

Highlights - Clijsters storms through

The Belgian arrived on Court Two to a rapturous ovation and immediately set about dismantling Camerin's flaky game.

Clijsters had never played on the court before - it was only opened in 2009 - but she wasted little time getting familiar with it, winning in 65 minutes without facing a single break point.

After dominating the first set, two stunning winners - a backhand down the line and crosscourt forehand winner - saw the two-time semi-finalist, whose only Grand Slam title came at the 2005 US Open, break to love to seal it and she opened the second with a confident hold.

Camerin eventually began to show some resistance and picked up three straight service games to remain in contention.

But Clijsters upped the intensity in game eight to claim the decisive break and followed it up by racing to 40-0 and converting her first match point with an unreturnable serve.

"I was actually pretty nervous leaving the locker room and going out on court again," the 27-year-old revealed afterwards.

"It's just nerves. I guess you can probably compare it going to your first day of school after a school holiday. It's like excitement, curious, and a lot of emotions.

"It's the mixture of emotions I got to think that make you a little bit more nervous than normal."

Clijsters will next play Karolina Sprem of Croatia after the world number 104 beat qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3 6-4.

606: DEBATE Dushevina is a useful player and this opens the draw up for her M20

Henin defeated her Latvian opponent 6-4 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with Germany's Kristina Barrois.

The former world number one, who won on grass in Ordina at the weekend, was made to work hard in the first set by the world number 57, breaking in the third game only for the Latvian to break straight sets.

Sevastova kept pace with Henin but at 4-4, the Belgian pulled away as her experience told.

The second set went with serve to 3-3 before Henin earned a break point, which she converted with a smash.

Elsewhere, 11th seed and 2007 finalist Marion Bartoli saw off Julia Goerges 6-4 6-3 and 12th seed Nadia Petrova eased past Tatjana Malek by the same scoreline while 13th seed Shahar Peer of Israel beat former world number one Ana Ivanovic.

Vera Zvonareva, the 21st seed from Russia, progressed with a 6-4 6-1 triumph against Nuria Llagostera Vives as did her compatriot and 27th seed Maria Kirilenko who was a 2-6 6-4 7-5 wnner over Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland.

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