Serena Williams opened her bid for a third straight Wimbledon title today with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over a Chinese player making her first appearance at the All England Club. The top-seeded Williams wasn’t her dominating self in a tougher-than-expected outing against 52nd-ranked Zheng Jie, who showed no signs of being overawed against the two-time defending champion on centre court.Elsewhere, Marat Safin and Elena Dementieva were upset in the first round and Tim Henman survived a big scare against a grass-court novice. “The most special thing is coming back as champ,” Williams said. “Win, lose or draw it’s a great feeling to be defending champion at Wimbledon. I don’t get that feeling at any other Grand Slam.” The score was deceptive. The 20-year-old Zheng, with an especially strong backhand, stayed close in most games and pushed Williams for much of the 66-minute match. But Zheng couldn’t break Williams’ serve, going 0-10 on break points. Williams also took advantage of Zheng’s weak serve, teeing off on her second deliveries. In an early upset, sixth-seeded Dementieva of Russia — the losing finalist at last month’s French Open — was bounced 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 by Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic. Dementieva, who had 67 double faults during the French Open, served her 11th double fault on match point. Another Russian, No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova, was eliminated by France’s Virginie Razzano, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-4. No. 17 Chanda Rubin was ousted by Marion Bartoli, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. There was also an early surprise on the men’s side, with 19th-seeded Safin beaten by fellow Russian Dmitry Tursunov, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1). Safin was a quarterfinalist here in 2001, but Wimbledon remains his least successful Grand Slam event. Watching Safin’s match was former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, an avid tennis fan and player. Yeltsin was invited to sit in the royal box on centre court, but instead wandered out to court 2 to watch the all-Russian contest. The annual British rite of “Henmania” got off to a rocky start. Henman, seeking again to become the first homegrown men’s champion since Fred Perry in 1936, struggled to overcome 89th-ranked Spaniard Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo. Henman, who has lost in the semifinals four times in six years, dropped the first set and faced two set points in the second before rallying to win 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-2. He served his 13th ace on match point. It ended a shaky performance by Henman, who had 10 double faults. Ramirez-Hidalgo stepped on a grass court for the first time Sunday. Yet he stunned Henman and his devoted following on court 1 by taking the first set and going up a break in the second. Other first-round winners included No. 9 Carlos Moya, No. 14 Mardy Fish and No. 18 Feliciano Lopez. Wayne Ferreira, a 32-year-old South African, beat No. 28 Ivan Ljubicic in four sets to mark his record 55th Grand Slam tournament appearance.
