Third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia had a difficult third round match against Czech 25th seed Lucie Safarova, but eventually won 5-7 7-6 6-2 . Jankovic lost the first set 5-7, and had to play a tiebreak in the frustrating 75-minute second set to stay in the match. She won the tiebreak 7-4 after which there was a rain delay. Jankovic seemed to have benefited from the rain; when the play was resumed she won the decider 6-2.

The match was really exciting. World No. 25 Safarova had strong and precise forehands, and luck was definitely on her side in the first two sets. Many of her shots ended up in the court, when no one expected that could happen. Especially interesting was the shot when the ball landed on the net — everyone was sure that it would end up in Safarova’s side of the court, and even Jankovic didn’t approach the net thinking it was a point for her, but then the ball, after that “indecisiveness”, turned to Jankovic’s side of the court and Safarova got the point.

During the first two sets Jankovic often seemed hopeless, and her body gestures showed that she didn't know how to beat her opponent. In contrast, Safarova looked strong, and everything she did produced results.

To sum up, Safarova played amazing, but she couldn’t keep her rhythm during a match that long.

Jelena Jankovic will next play No. 18 seed Marion Bartoli of France, who beat Israel’s Shahar Peer in the third round.

Second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia beat Severine Bremond of France 6-0 6-3. The result speaks for itself. Sharapova next meets Ai Sugiyama, who she beat on her way to her 2004 title.

Sharapova admitted that she still struggles with the shoulder injury. When asked if her shoulder would last the full two weeks of the tournament, she said: "I don't know, we'll see. It's holding up but I'll tell you when I am done playing here."

No. 23 seed Venus Williams overcame Czech qualifier Hana Sromova 6-2 6-2. Sromova gave Williams a few problems with some crowd-pleasing drop shots and lobs, but the five-times grand slam champion was never unduly troubled.

No. 10 seed Daniela Hantuchova edged past Russian Elena Likhovtseva on Thursday, winning 7-5 7-6 to book her place in the third round. The 31-year-old Likhovtseva, whose career highlights have come on the doubles court where she has won 27 titles, was a real test for the Slovakian player. Hantuchova will next face Slovenian 19th seed Katarina Srebotnik. Read more »

Ladies' singles results for Wednesday, 27 June:

First round

• No. 12 seed Elena Dementieva (RUS) bt Nathalie Dechy (FRA) 6-2 7-6

• No. 29 seed Francesca Schiavone (ITA) bt Anne Kremer (LUX) 5-7 6-4 6-3

• No. 32 seed Martina Muller (GER) bt Anna Smashnova (ISR) 6-0 6-0

• No. 28 seed Mara Santangelo (ITA) bt Ayumi Morita (JPN) 6-1 3-6 6-3 Read more »

After edging past a British wildcard Naomi Cavaday in the first round, Martina Hingis ruled herself out as a serious contender for the ladies' singles crown this year.

The 1997 champion had to save two match points and play three sets to defeat the teenager ranked 232 in the world.

"After this match I don’t see myself as a contender for the title," Hingis said. (More about Hingis vs. Cavaday match here)

Martina still isn’t sure if she made the right decision, which is to compete in Wimbledon despite a left hip injury which has bothered her for two months. Read more »

I will start with the most interesting match of the second day, and that is the first round match between No. 23 seed Venus Williams and unseeded Russian teenager Alla Kudryavtseva.

World No.59 Alla Kudryavtseva was close to victory, but simply didn’t make use of the numerous opportunities she had. Eventually, she was defeated 2-6 6-3 7-5, leaving the court frustrated and in tears. Still, in this match the young Russian showed that she has a great potential.

Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo easily defeated world No. 158 Jamea Jackson 6-1 6-3. Maybe this is the beginning of Mauresmo’s better results after an unsatisfactory first half of the year? Read more »