Clijsters eases through

Playing competitively at the All England Club for the first since 2006, the Belgian eighth seed rattled off the first set in just 24 minutes in bright conditions on the opening day of the year's third Grand Slam.

Camerin, who suffered a sixth straight first-round defeat here, offered more resistance in the second set but was broken in game eight and a tame service return into the net ended her challenge.

Clijsters will now play Croatia's Karolina Sprem, after she beat American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3 6-4.

Second seed Venus Williams took a confident first step towards a sixth Wimbledon title when she eased past Paraguay's Rosanna De Los Rios.

The American confidently took the first set 6-3 in 35 minutes and raced into a 5-0 lead in the second before showing her only moments of hesitation in wrapping up the match.

De Los Rios, the world number 91 who reached the last 16 on her debut here a decade ago, briefly rallied before Williams wrapped up the second set 6-2 for a 64-minute victory which was concluded in fading light on Court One.

She plays Ekaterina Makarova, winner of the grasscourt title in Eastbourne last week, in the second round after the Russian beat Hungary's Agnes Szavay 6-4 7-6(2).

Italy's newly crowned French Open champion Francesca Schiavone fell at the first hurdle, losing 6-7(0) 7-5 6-1 to Russian Vera Dushevina.

Schiavone, who took a fairytale first Grand Slam win at Roland Garros earlier this month, showed much of the tenacity that saw her triumph in Paris in the opening set, taking the tiebreak 7-0 on Court Two.

But Dushevina, the world number 56, found her rhythm in the second and raced through the decider to book a place in the second round for the fourth straight year.

Dushevina will now play Tsvetana Pironkova for a place in the third round, after the Bulgarian beat Anna Lapushchenkova 6-0 7-6(7).

Former world number one Justine Henin also booked her place in the second round as she beat Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 6-4 6-3.

Wimbledon is the one Grand Slam to elude Henin so far and the 17th seed will next face Kristina Barrois, after the German beat Mariya Koryttseva 6-3 6-4.

French 11th seed Marion Bartoli also wasted little time in booking her place in the second round with a 6-4 6-1 victory over Germany's Julia Goerges.

Nadia Petrova, seeded 12th, made light work of a German opponent as well, beating Tatjana Malek 6-4 6-3 to set up a second round clash with Chan Yung-Jan, after the Chinese Taipei player dismissed Switzerland's Patty Schnyder 6-0 6-2.

Russians Vera Zvonareva, seeded 21, and Alla Kudryavtseva both eased through with straight sets wins but compatriot Maria Kirilenko needed three sets to book her place in the second round.

Zvonareva beat Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-4 6-1 while Kudryavtseva progressed by exactly the same scoreline against Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson.

But Kirilenko was forced to recover from a set down before being allowed to beat Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele 2-6 6-4 7-5 and set up a clash with Shenay Perry; the American coming through an epic of her own and eventually triumphing 6-2 4-6 9-7 against Anastasiya Yakimova.