Defending champion Maria Sharapova of Russia and both the Williams sisters have advanced to the third round of the Wimbledon tennis championships, but Britain's Tim Henman and French Open champion Rafael Nadal of Spain are out of the grass-court event.
The second-seeded Sharapova took only 46 minutes to beat 15-year-old Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva, 6-0, 6-1. The Russian next faces Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, who ousted South Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho (7-5, 6-4).
Former champion Venus Williams of the United States also advanced with a win over Nicole Pratt of Australia, 7-5, 6-3. The 14th-seeded Williams plays Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova, the 20th seed, who beat Shahar Peer of Israel in three sets (6-2, 2-6, 6-3).
Venus's sister, two-time champion Serena Williams, scored a three-set win over Mara Santangelo of Italy (2-6, 6-3, 6-2).
Highlighting the men's draw Thursday, Rafael Nadal lost in four sets to unheralded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg (6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4).
British fans had their hearts broken when men's sixth seed Tim Henman lost a five-set match to Russian Dmitry Tursunov (3-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 8-6).
Last year's runner-up, Andy Roddick of the United States, was leading his match with Italian player Daniele Bracciali (7-5, 6-3, 6-7) when the match was suspended due to darkness.
Some information for this report provided by AP.
