Maria Sharapova intends to play through the pain barrier as she bids to recapture the Wimbledon crown. The number two seed, a fairytale winner at SW19 in 2004, had been troubled by a shoulder injury recently. At times yesterday, Sharapova, 20, looked sluggish in her first-round match against Yung-Jan Chan on Court One. In the end, though, the former world number one found enough to complete her 6-1 7-5 victory in one hour and 29 minutes. Sharapova was runner-up at the Australian Open, and is the defending US Open champion. Despite a troubled season fitness wise, the young Russian remains determined as ever to succeed at the All England Club. "Doctors say it does not really make a difference if I take time off or not," Sharapova reflected. "I do not know why, but they say if I can play with it, if the pain is not too severe. They tell me it is more of a strength issue, and that is something which is going to be very important after this tournament. Probably for three weeks after, I will have of no tournaments and am going to be working on a lot of strength." Former Wimbledon champion Venus Williams came back from the dead to deny the "Graveyard of Champions" another scalp. The 26-year-old Williams suffered a surprise third-round defeat by Jelena Jankovic on the All England Club's infamous court two 12 months ago and was a set and a break down to Russian teenager Alla Kudryavtseva before fighting back to claim a 2-6 6-3 7-5 win. The 19-year-old Miami-based Kudryavtseva produced some inspired tennis in a first-round match marred by a series of disputed line calls and was just two points away from pulling off a stunning victory on her Wimbledon debut. Williams, whose sister Serena triumphed on the same court in her opening match 24 hours earlier, rescued a potentially perilous position with a 119mph serve and broke her inexperienced opponent in the all-important 12th game of the deciding set. As the three-time former champion breathed a huge sigh of relief, Kudryavtseva left the court in tears. Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo was in determined mood as she breezed past Jamea Jackson of the United States 6-1 6-3 on Centre Court. "I feel good," said Mauresmo, who had been hampered by a thigh problem recently. "This year is a little bit different because really I did not feel that well at the French Open, so it definitely makes it better here for me." The French number four seed will now meet Austrian Yvonne Meusburger in round two. Number 10 seed Daniela Hantuchova made swift progress by thrashing Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets. "Tactically I played very smart. I have started to feel really good on grass," said a delighted Hantuchova, having needed less than an hour on cour. Hantuchova, 24, will face another Russian, Elena Likhovtseva, in the second round after her three-set win over Italy's Maria Camerin. Compatriot and eight seed Anna Chakvetadze beat Angelique Kerber of Germany 7-5 6-3. One Russian seed out, though, is Olga Poutchkova, who was beaten 6-1 6-3 by her compatriot Elena Vesnina. In the matches which were played late into the evening, Russian number five see Svetlana Kuznetsova came from behind to beat Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Her compatriot Nadia Petrova, the 11th seed, beat America's Vania King 6-0 6-1. | 
