Kuznetsova survives scare
Fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova narrowly survived becoming the biggest women's casualty on the opening day of Wimbledon as she battled back from a set and a break down to beat Mathilde Johansson of France.
The former US Open champion was pushed to the limit by qualifier Johansson, the world number 124 who has never gone beyond the second round of a grand slam in seven attempts, before clawing a 6-7 (5/7) 7-5 6-3 victory.
Last year's quarter-finalist Nicole Vaidisova, seeded 18, is also through after making short work of Zuzana Ondraskova 6-2 6-2, but a number of seeds were not so fortunate on the opening day.
Patty Schnyder, the 12th seed who reached the fourth round last year, was beaten 6-4 3-6 6-1 by Australia's Casey Dellacqua and 19th seed Maria Kirilenko lost 6-3 6-3 to Vera Dushevina.
The 27th seed Virginie Razzano and 30th seed Dominika Cibulkova also went down, while the youngest player in the women's draw, 16-year-old qualifier Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, scored a memorable 7-6 (8/6) 7-6 (7/4) win over 17th seed Alize Cornet.
Like Kuznetsova, Russian eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze also had to pull back from the brink as she rallied for a topsy-turvy 2-6 6-1 8-6 success over Canadian Stephanie Dubois.
But there were no such problems for young Pole Agnieszka Radwanska, as the 14th seed hammered Iveta Benesova 6-3 6-0 on Centre Court.
Former champion Amelie Mauresmo, who has slipped to 33 in the world rankings and is seeded 22nd, beat American Ashley Harkleroad 6-4 6-3, while last year's beaten finalist Marion Bartoli overcame Sabine Lisicki 6-2 6-4.
