LONDON - Former champion Venus Williams showed flashes of her old brilliance when she defeated Czech qualifier Hana Sromova 6-2, 6-2 at Wimbledon yesterday.

LONDON - Former champion Venus Williams showed flashes of her old brilliance when she defeated Czech qualifier Hana Sromova 6-2, 6-2 at Wimbledon yesterday.

Williams, who needed three sets to get past first-round opponent Alla Kudryavtseva, broke Sromova for a 3-0 lead and converted her second set point when the Czech sent the ball out.

Sromova, in the second round for the first time, gave Williams a few problems with some crowd-pleasing drop shots and lobs but the five-time grand slam champion, who was out injured for four months at the turn of the year, was never unduly troubled.

The 26-year-old Williams broke Sromova again early in the second set and won the tie on her second match point.

Other Wimbledon women's singles second round results yesterday (prefix number denotes seeding):

5-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Bethanie Mattek (US) 7-6(2) 6-4

28-Mara Santangelo (Italy) beat Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-0 7-6(4)

25-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 6-4 3-6 6-3

Aravane Rezai (France) beat 29-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-4 2-6 6-4

10-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) 7-5 7-6(3)

Tamira Paszek (Austria) beat 17-Tatiana Golovin (France) 6-2 3-6 6-1

6-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Meilen Tu (US) 6-4 6-3

15-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Roberta Vinci (Italy) 2-6 6-3 6-2

Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat 21-Tathiana Garbin (Italy) 6-1 6-3

24-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Agnes Szavay (Hungary) 6-2 6-3

12-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Iveta Benesova (Czech) 6-2 6-2

31-Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands) beat Katie O'Brien (UK) 6-0 6-1

19-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) beat Nika Ozegovic (Croatia) 6-1 6-1

8-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) 6-2 6-1

14-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech) beat Nicole Pratt (Australia) 6-3 6-2. - Reuters