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Serena races into Wimbledon second round

Serena Williams powered down 15 aces on her way to a first round victory at Wimbledon.
Serena Williams powered down 15 aces on her way to a first round victory at Wimbledon.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Defending champion Serena Williams breezes into second round at Wimbledon
  • Williams beats Michelle Larcher De Brito of Portugal 6-0 6-4
  • Serena is bidding for her second grand slam of year and 13th overall
  • Sixth seed Samantha Stosur of Australian crashes out in first round
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(CNN) -- Serena Williams made a confident start to her Wimbledon title defense with a straight sets defeat of world number 148 Michelle Larcher De Brito of Portugal.

The top seed was detained on Centre Court for just over an hour by her 17-year-old opponent before closing out a 6-0 6-4 victory on Tuesday.

De Brito salvaged a little pride in the second set after Williams had swept through the opener without conceding a game in just 21 minutes.

The American fired down a string of aces and broke De Brito at will, clearly determined not to repeat the difficulties encountered by her male counterpart Roger Federer on the showpiece court just 24 hours earlier.

De Brito took Williams to three sets in their previous match on the WTA Tour at Stanford, two years ago, and loud cheers greeted her efforts as she got on the board in the second set.

But she was already a break down and despite spirited play was never able to retrieve it.

Williams served for the match at 5-4 and aces number 14 and 15 wrapped up victory and passage to the second round.

She is seeded to meet sister Venus in the final as she bids for a 13th grand slam title and second of the year after winning the Australian Open in January.

Later Tuesday, there was an upset defeat for Australian Sam Stosur on her first round match against Estonian qualifier Kaia Kanepi.

Sixth seed Stosur, who lost to Francesca Schiavone in the French Open final, was beaten 6-4 6-4. Italian Schiavone lost her first round match on Monday as both found the transition for clay to grass a step too far.

Third seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark made light work of her opening opponent Tathiana Garbin of Italy, winning 6-1 6-1 on Court No.1.

Elsewhere, seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska, of Poland beat Hungary's Melinda Czink 6-3 6-3, while Na Li, Of China, beat Chanelle Scheepers, of South Africa, 7-6 6-2.