Ivanovic an easy winner at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England, June 23 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic won easily but two top eight players faced scares in first-day play Monday in the women's section of The Championships at Wimbledon.

Ivanovic crushed Rossana De Los Rios 6-1, 6-2 in the highlighted women's match Monday. Ivanovic is ranked No. 1 in the world and has advanced to the finals of the last Grand Slam events, including the French Open which she won.

But fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 8 Anna Chakvetadze both needed to rally to get out of the first round. Kuznetsova dropped a first-set tiebreaker before taking a 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-3 win from Mathilde Johansson. Chakvetadze fought through three match points before finishing off Stephanie Dubois 2-6, 6-1, 8-6.

Sixth-seeded Serena Williams held her serve through the match in a 7-5, 6-3 first-round win over Kaia Kanepi and No. 12 Patty Schnyder posted a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Casey Dellacqua. No. 18-seeded Nicole Vaidisova matched Ivanovic's performance with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Zuzana Ondraskova.

No. 17 Alize Comet, 19th-seeded Maria Kirilenko, No. 27 Virginie Razzano and 30th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova were all ousted Monday, with only Razzano, who took the first set from Vera Dushevina 6-0, pushing her match to three sets.