Serena Williams' long-awaited return to action came to a premature end in her second round match against Vera Zvonareva, at the Eastbourne AEGON International. Williams had come through her first round tie against Tsvetana Pironkova with a determined performance to come back from a set behind. Top seed Zvonareva proved too much for the returning Williams though, coming through the tie in straight sets to join Serena's sister Venus in the quarter-finals, where the Russian will face Australia's Sam Stosur.
After a year out of the game with firstly injury then illness, these two games at Eastbourne will be a massive benefit to Serena ahead of next week's Wimbledon. Last year's final proved to be her final match for a long time and although there were hopes that Williams would make the French Open, being fully fit for Wimbledon was viewed as more important. Anyone looking to place Wimbledon tennis bet 2011 will have to remember this.
The 29-year old will be looking to make it five titles at the All England Club, and despite her injury ravaged 12 months plenty will be backing the American to reign again. Serena was pleased with her performance this week, although admitted she was feeling the effects of such a long absence. Those following the Wimbledon tennis odds will wonder if she's in the sort of place where she can win a slam.
"It was a good two matches for me. I couldn't be happier with the amount of tennis that I've played," he said.
"I haven't played in almost a year, so I'm a little sore. Grass always gets you a little sore. It's good I'm sore now, because hopefully next week I won't be as sore."
Williams will now head to Wimbledon knowing she will be the seventh seed for the draw next week. The defending champion has climbed a place following Kim Clijsters withdrawal and will now avoid the higher seeded players until the quarter-final at least. While it may seem like a relatively modest seeding for the reigning champion, when one looks at Serena's ranking of 26th in the world then it looks like a fairly high seed position. The question will now be whether or not two matches is enough for a champion to defend her title.