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Defending champion Venus Williams crushed Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko 6-3 6-2 on Court One to book a place in the third round at Wimbledon.

Venus, her left leg strapped throughout, is seeking a sixth title here and her third in a row, and never gave the world number 73 the chance to fully express her game.

Two breaks helped the American edge a competitive first set in 37 minutes but the third seed was really finding the middle of her racket in an impressive second set and sealed victory in one hour and nine minutes with a clean forehand winner.

She will face Carla Suarez Navarro for a spot in the fourth round, after the Spaniard battled past Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 4-6 6-1.

Top seed Dinara Safina blasted her way through with a 6-3 7-5 victory over Paraguay's Rossana De Los Rios.

Safina, the world number one but still chasing her first Grand Slam crown, used a mix of powerful serving and superior groundstrokes to unseat the South American, ranked 99 places beneath her.

The Russian took the opener in 35 minutes courtesy of a single break and another break was all she needed to wrap up the match in an hour and 22 minutes, sealing victory with a crunching backhand crosscourt winner.

Safina will bid to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first in her career against Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens, who battered Brit Elena Baltacha 7-5 6-1.

French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova showed an increasing liking for grass when she blazed past France's Pauline Parmentier 6-1 6-3 for a place in the third round.

The Russian fifth seed, who has never passed the quarter-finals here, crunched 12 winners as she blazed through the first set in just 25 minutes.

Kuznetsova never took her foot off the pedal and clinched the match with a second break of serve when Parmentier looped a backhand over the baseline with the clock on an hour.

She will face Sabine Liscki for a place in the fourth round, after the German was equally dismissive in her 6-2 6-4 win over Austria's Patricia Mayr.

Australian 18th seed Samantha Stosur, a semi-finalist at the French Open, struggled past German qualifier Tatjana Malek 4-6 7-6(6) 6-4 and will face former world number one Ana Ivanovic , after the 13th seed beat Italy's Sara Errani 7-5 6-1.

After a quick exchange of breaks at the start of the first set, Errani, making only her second visit to Wimbledon, regained the lead with another break.

But to her credit, Ivanovic dug deep and broke Errani as she served for the set. With the momentum back in her direction, Ivanovic went for her shots with some abandon and broke again at 6-5 to take the first set.

The Serb was a far more dominant force now and broke twice early in the second set to take a 3-1 lead before closing out the match in one hour 17 minutes.

Former winner, and 17th seed, Amelie Mauresmo continued her quiet progress through the draw with a 6-3 6-3 win over Russian Kristina Kucova, and will next face 15th seed Flavia Pennetta , who beat Vania King 6-2 6-2.

Ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki, winner at Eastbourne last week, breezed past Russia's Maria Kirilenko 6-0 6-4 and will next face 20th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues, after the Spaniard courtesy of a 7-6(5) 6-3 win over Italy's Tathiana Garbin .

Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic also eased through into the third round with a 6-2 6-4 win over Czech Iveta Benesova. The Serb will next face American Melanie Oudin, who beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 3-6 6-2 6-4.

Polish 11th seed Agnieszka Radwanska was forced to work a lot harder for her third round berth, eventually coming through a 6-2 6-7(6) 9-7 epic against China's Peng Shuai.

The Pole will face another Chinese player in the next round after 19th seed Li Na beat Belarussian Olga Govortsova 6-4 6-2

Reuters