Ivanovic survives Wimbledon scare

WIMBLEDON, England, June 25 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic fought off two match points Wednesday before claiming a tough second-round Wimbledon three-set win from Nathalie Dechy.

Ivanovic was shaky throughout the 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 10-8 match that lasted 3 hours and 24 minutes. Dechy, ranked 97th, twice had Ivanovic at match point, including one in which Ivanovic's forehand shot hit the net cord and just went over the net for a winner.

It wasn't until the 18th game of the third set that Ivanovic was able to cash her fourth attempt at a match point and advance to the third round.

Fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 6 Serena Williams were much more solid in their Wednesday matches. Kuznetsova took out Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-2, 6-3, and Williams dispatched Urszula Radwanska, 6-4, 6-4.

In the final first-round match of the tournament, fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva finished off a match that had been suspended Tuesday, winning, 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, over Elena Camerin.

In other second-round matches, 11th-seeded Marion Bartoli defeated Tatiana Perebiynis, 6-2, 7-5; No. 15 Agnes Szavay beat Monica Niculescu and 18th-seeded Nicole Vaidisova was a 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 winner over Samantha Stosur.

Also Wednesday, Jie Zheng advanced into a third-round match with Ivanovic and Casey Dellacqua and Bethanie Mattek won second-round matches.