Serena Williams set to defend her crown after watching Venus make next round

Serena Williams was preparing to begin the defence of her Wimbledon title against France's Aravane Rezai on Centre Court today in only her second appearance since retaining her crown 12 months ago after recovering from a serious foot injury and blood clots on her lungs.

Williams watched elder sister Venus book her place in the second round with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan yesterday.

The five-time Wimbledon champion is playing only her second tournament since withdrawing from the Australian Open with a hip problem and improved as the match progressed. "I played a few matches in Eastbourne I think helped me to feel pretty comfortable here," she said.

"All in all I was pretty pleased to play. Coming into any major there's a little bit of tension."

Sixth seed Francesca Schiavone thanked the rain break - the weather ended the first day's play outside Centre Court at 5pm - as she survived a difficult clash with Jelena Dokic, winning 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

"For me it was fantastic because I started the third set and I couldn't understand why she was playing so aggressively and I couldn't move her," Schiavone said. "So at the end I said, 'Something is not working'.

"Of course, when they (closed) the roof, I went back to the locker room and I spoke with (coach Corrado) Barazzutti.

"He said something really important. So I came back and I was playing better."

Last year's Wimbledon runner-up Vera Zvonareva survived a first round scare to defeat promising young American Alison Riske 6-0, 3-6, 6-3.