Shoulder injury threatens Clijsters

Kim Clijster's 7-5, 6-2 defeat to Elena Likhovtseva has not only made her the biggest women's singles casualty at Wimbledon so far but raised the question of just what sort of casualty she really is. The world No5 and fifth seed's below-par performance against an opponent down at 48 increased concerns that she may need the rest of the year to make a full recovery.

With Martina Hingis' career still on the line as she tries to recover from serious ankle problems, Clijster's problems raised the question as to how many young players, sucked in by the large rewards and the pressures to promote the circuit, are endangering their long-term health by doing too much.

The teenaged Belgian refused at first to make this an excuse for defeat but soon contradicted herself. Clijsters is, she admitted, already being forced to reduce both tournaments and practice, and that will reassess her options later in the year. An operation has been discussed but for the moment has been ruled out because it is not guaranteed to help.

"I know this is going to be a very tough year," she acknowledged.

Meanwhile Venus Williams performed an ecstatic little dance and laughed spontaneously after accelerating into the third round with a 6-3, 6-1 win over last year's giantkiller Virginia Ruano Pascal. She might also have been relieved to hear of the demise of Clijsters, who upset the Wimbledon champion in the final in Hamburg seven weeks ago.

The Wimbledon runner-up Justine Henin looked in better shape than she did a month ago. Her French Open had been ruined by sinusitis and a thigh injury but now, despite a lack of match practice, she quashed a late fightback from 3-5 down by Denisa Chladkova, a Czech ranked outside the top 100, to win 6-2, 7-5.

Henin now plays Myriam Casanova, a Swiss qualifier who looks like following in Hingis' footsteps. Only just 17, and only two months after playing the first WTA Tour match of her career, Casanova upset the seedings, beating Barbara Schett, the number 29 from Austria, by 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Another seed to go out, was Swiss number17 seed Patty Schnyder, beaten 6-1, 6-3 by Conchita Martinez.

· Monica Seles, who moved impressively into the third round with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Paraguay's Rossana Neffa-De Los Rios.believes Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi can bounce back and win Wimbledon again as she continues her own bid to strike a blow for tennis's older generation.

Fourth seed Seles, "I think Pete and Andre can still win this tournament again, as you get older, tennis is a sport that rewards the youth." Without pushing her own credentials, Seles maintains that she would not be surprised if an outsider won through to take the title ahead of the trio of big-hitting favourites. "I think it's not impossible. You just go out there and do the best job you can and anything can happen."