S. Williams returns to Wimbledon with win

LONDON, June 21 (UPI) -- Two-time defending champion Serena Williams had a strong finish Tuesday in taking a three-set victory in first-round play at Wimbledon.

Williams, who had played just two tournament matches since injuring her foot shortly after she won the 2010 Wimbledon title, defeated Aravane Rezai 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. She won the last 10 points in the match.

Rezai had an early break but the No. 7-seeded Williams won five consecutive games to take control of the first set. Rezai used a sixth-game break for the advantage in the second set but Williams broke for a 3-1 lead in the third set and powered her way in from there.

World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki lost her serve in her opening game but had few other issues in a 6-2, 6-1 rout of Arantxa Parra Santonja. Wozniacki won nearly 60 percent of the points off Parra Santonja's serve and had just four unforced errors in the match.

French Open champion Li Na, who is seeded third at Wimbledon, need just more than an hour to dispatch Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3, 6-3. Fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka also gained the second round. She was ahead 6-4, 3-2 when Magdalena Rybarikova retired. Maria Sharapova, seeded fifth, had seven service breaks in a 6-2, 6-1 win over Anna Chakvetadze.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez posted the first upset of a Top 16 seed by knocking off 15th-seeded Jelena Jankovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Late Tuesday, Melinda Czink eliminated No. 10-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-4.

Also Tuesday, eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova breezed past Alexa Glatch 6-2, 6-2, Marion Bartoli, seeded ninth, roared by Kristyna Pliskova 6-0, 6-2 while 11th-seeded Andrea Petkovic stopped Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-3, 6-4 and No. 14-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was a 6-5, 7-6 (7-3) winner over Lesia Tsurenko.

Other seeded winners were 18th-seeded Ana Ivanovic, No. 20 Peng Shuai, 25th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, 26th-seeded Maria Kirilenko, No. 29 Roberta Vinci, No. 31 Lucie Safarova and 32nd-seeded Tsvetana Pironkova.

Unseeded first-round winners Tuesday included Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Kateryna Bondarenko, Eleni Daniilidou, Rebecca Marino, Marina Erakovic, Iveta Benesova, Virginie Razzano, Stephanie Dubois, Anastasiya Yakimova, Simona Halep, Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothavong, Klara Zakopalova, Tamarine Tanasugarn, Petra Martic, Tamira Paszek, Nadia Petrova and Lourdes Dominguez Lino.