Serena strolls to victory

Serena Williams started the defence of her Wimbledon title with a straight sets win today,comfortably seeing off Portuguese teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito despite a spirited fightback.

The American world number one defeated the 17-year-old,who is known for her loud grunting,6-0,6-4 inside an hour and three minutes on Centre Court with an impressive display of power hitting.

When I saw the draw,I thought,oh,last time I played her it was a really tough match,so Im really glad to get through, the top seed said.

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Williams faces Russias Anna Chakvetadze in the second round.

The defending mens champion gets the honour of opening on Centre Court on day one of the tournament,while the ladies title holder opens the second day.

But while Roger Federer was forced to come back from two sets down and had to break Alejandro Fallas serve to save the match,there was no such trouble for Williams.

The pair had only faced each other once before,at Stanford in 2008,when Williams won in three sets after losing the first.

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But the Lisbon right-hander did not come near taking a set this time,as her service faltered and Williams remained in control.

In the first game,Williams took Larcher de Brito to deuce and broke serve,then followed up with some powerful strokes for a 2-0 lead.

Williams then took the next game to love,with the Portuguese number one unable to match her opponents groundstrokes. The American then held serve.

Larcher de Britos first serve was faltering,allowing Williams to break again. The Portuguese only got 32 per cent of her first serves in.