Sprem shocks Venus Williams to reach the third round at Wimbledon

LONDON, England -- Venus Williams suffered her earliest Wimbledon exit in seven years on Thursday, falling in the second round 7-6 7-6 to Croatia's Karolina Sprem.

Champion in 2000 and 2001 and runner-up to younger sister the last two years, Williams was outplayed from start to finish as shadows crept across Centre Court.

Shanking groundstrokes both long and wide, the third seed was never able to get a foothold in the match as it ran away from her in 102 minutes.

Sprem, ranked 30th in the world, could hardly miss as the increasingly-frustrated American lurched from one crisis to another.

The Croatian faltered while serving for the match at 5-3 and allowed Venus back into the contest.

Williams held two set points in the second tiebreak but double faulted on the first and netted a simple forehand on her second. Sprem converted on her first match point when Venus looped a loose forehand long.

But the result was clouded in controversy over the scoring in the second-set tiebreaker.

Chair umpire Ted Watts incorrectly called the score as 2-2, giving Sprem a point when instead she should have been taking a second serve.

Both players appeared confused, but neither disputed the call.

Tournament referee Alan Mills confirmed the umpire made a mistake but said the result would stand

The loss was Venus' earliest in any grand slam since the French Open in 2001 when she lost in the first round.

"It's not a whole barrel of laughs," she said. "But I guess it's not possible to be a winner or a finalist every year."

Despite the mix-up by the umpire over the points scored in the second set tiebreak, Venus felt that did not turn the match.

"I would like to think one point doesn't make a difference. But obviously it was a wrong call," she said.

Asked why she had not objected to the scoring error, Williams said: "I didn't want to lose my focus. I felt maybe I had lost track."

Mauresmo through

French fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo ambled through to the second round with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Croatian Jelena Kostanic.

Mauresmo, a semi-finalist in her last appearance at Wimbledon in 2002, sported a strapping on her right thigh but had little trouble disposing of the world number 37 on Centre Court.

The Frenchwoman raced through the first set and, after a 30-minute rain interruption, broke serve twice to wrap up victory against an opponent who has never won a match at Wimbledon.

The 24-year-old has a favourable draw until the semi-finals when she could meet defending champion Serena Williams, who beat her at the same stage two years ago.

Meanwhile, women's seventh seed Jennifer Capriati brushed aside Claudine Schaul of Luxembourg 6-2 6-2 in the first round.

The bustling 28-year-old American profited from a string of unforced errors by her 20-year-old opponent to seal the simplest of victories on court one.

Capriati made her Wimbledon debut 14 years ago but has never been beyond the semi-finals.

This year she could meet defending champion Serena Williams in the quarter-finals in a re-match of their last-eight clash at the French Open earlier this month which Capriati won. First, though, she must beat British wildcard Elena Baltacha in the second round.

On a day of very few surprises, many of the leading women enjoyed comfortable second round victories.

Fifth seed Lindsay Davenport reached the third round without dropping a game, going through 6-0 1-0 after opponent Kristina Brandi of Puerto Rico had to retire through injury.

Meanwhile, Japan's Ai Sugiyama and Russian duo Vera Zvonereva and Maria Sharapova, seeded 11, 12 and 13, all advanced in straight sets

Argentine Gisela Dulko once again cut short 47-year-old Martina Navratilova's remarkable renaissance with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 second-round victory over the nine-times former champion.

Dulko beat Navratilova easily in the first round of the French Open last month on the Czech-born American's return to grand slam singles action after a 10-year absence, but this time she had to dig deep to avoid a humiliating loss.

Navratilova dropped only one game in thrashing Catalina Castano in the first round and looked set to avenge her Paris defeat when she whipped through the first set against world number 59 Dulko in fading sunlight on court three.

The years finally caught up with Navratilova in the second set, though. Dulko levelled the match with an ace and an early break in the third put the relieved Argentine on the way to a face-saving victory.