Venus Makes Shock Exit

Venus Williams has been sensationally dumped out of Wimbledon by a little-known Croatian.

19-year-old, Karolina Sprem was victorious after successfully negotiating tie-breaks in both the first and second sets.

Sprem's 7-6 (7-5), 7-6(8-6) win means that Williams will be absent from the women's singles final for the first time in five years

Williams had seemed certain to take the second set, after failing to find any rhythm in the opening set, well when she forced three break points. But Sprem magnificently saved them all and then kept her head to take the tie-break 8-6 - and with it, the match.

Jennifer Capriati looked good as she outclassed her opponent from Luxemberg, Claudine Schaul, to book a place in the second round.

The seventh seed barely broke sweat as she strode to a 6-2, 6-2 victory. She now plays British hopeful Elena Baltacha.

Fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo has moved convincingly into the second round, taking just 62 minutes to beat Croatia's Jelena Kostanic.

Both women were content to slug it out from the baseline, but the Frenchwoman's extra power proved decisive as she won 6-2, 6-3.

Her compatriot Mary Pierce was less fortunate, though, losing her first-round encounter in straight sets to Italian Virginia Pasqual

The 24th seed looked out of sorts on the grass as she fell meekly to a 6-2, 7-5 defeat.

British No1 Anne Keothavong's run was halted by Russian sensation Maria Sharapova, the 13th seed who is seen as a dark horse for the title.

The 20-year-old Londoner made light of the gap of 173 places in the world rankings in a close-fought first set but crumpled in the face of a second-set onslaught and went down 6-4, 6-0 in just 65 minutes.

Anne Kremer, of Luxemberg, has claimed a major scalp by defeating Colombian Fabiola Zuluaga, seeded 19, 6-4, 6-3.

The 1994 champion, Conchita Martinez, has been knocked out of the competition by Milagros Sequera. The 22nd seed, who beat Martina Navratilova to claim the title 10 years ago, went out 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) to the little-known Venezuelan on court 10.

Russia's Dinara Safina, brother of Marat Safin, was forced to withdraw from her first-round match against Arantxa Parra Santonja, of Spain.

The 29th seed lost the first set 6-0 and was 2-0 down in the second when she called for the trainer and, in discomfort with an old lower back injury, was forced to concede.

Hull schoolgirl Katie O'Brien failed to join the renaissance of British women's tennis this morning when she lost her rain-hit first-round match with Spain's Maria Sanchez Lorenzo

The 18-year-old, who is juggling her A-levels with her Wimbledon debut, was hoping to join four other Britons in the second round of the women's singles.

But the youngster, ranked 576th in the world, trailed 4-6, 4-5 when rain drove the players from court 11 on Tuesday, and the Spaniard took just two minutes to wrap up a 6-4, 6-4 victory, winning all four points played.

Women's first-round results

Maria Sanchez-Lorenzo (Spa) bt Katie O'Brien (GBR) 6-4, 6-4

Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spa) bt Dinara Safina (Rus) 6-0, 2-0 retired

Tatiana Perebiynis (Ukr) bt Christina Wheeler (Aus) 6-3, 6-2

Milagros Sequera (Ven) bt Conchita Martinez (Spa) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6)

Silvija Talaja (Cro) bt Barbora Strycova (Cze) 6-3, 6-4

Silvia Farina Elia (Ita) bt Shuai Peng (Chn) 6-0, 6-4

Anne Kremer (Lux) bt Fabiola Zuluaga (Col) 6-4, 6-3

Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa) bt Mary Pierce (Fra) 6-2, 7-5

Tatiana Golovin (Fra) bt Alina Jidkova (Rus) 6-4, 7-6(7-4)

Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Jelena Kostanic (Cro) 6-2, 6-3

Rita Grande (Ita) bt Mara Santangelo (Ita) 7-5, 7-5

Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa) bt Mary Pierce (Fra) 6-2, 7-5

Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Myriam Casanova (Swi) 3-6, 7-6(7-4), 6-3

Jennifer Capriati (USA) bt Claudine Schaul (Lux) 6-2, 6-2

Jennifer Hopkins (USA) bt Julia Vakulenko (Ukr) 7-6(7-5), 6-2

Lisa Raymond (USA) bt Shinobu Asagoe (Jpn) 6-3, 7-6(7-4)

Tian Tian Sun (Chn) bt Tathiana Garbin (Ita) 2-6, 6-0, 6-2

Paola Suarez (Arg) bt Shenay Perry (USA) 6-2, 6-4

L Cervanova (Svk) bt B Schett (Aut) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4

H Nagyova (Svk) bt L Krasnoroutskaya (Rus) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

Women's second-round results

Denisa Chladkova (Cze) bt Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) 7-6(7-5), 6-0

Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Anna Keothavong (Gbr) 6-4, 6-0

T Tanasugarn (Tha) bt S Kleinova (Cze) 6-3, 6-3