Serena Williams was sent tumbling out of Wimbledon as her bid to complete a hat-trick of titles came to an end at the hands of French ninth seed Marion Bartoli.

The relationship between female players and their fathers who coach them can be an uneasy one. Marion Bartoli and her father, Walter, are as close as any family team on the tour, but even their relationship was put to the test on Saturday. Furious at losing the first set against Flavia Pennetta, Bartoli told both her parents to leave the court. Their departure seemed to have the desired effect as the world No 9 rallied to win 5-7, 6-4, 9-7 after a three-hour marathon and earn a fourth-round meeting today with Serena Williams.

The head of the women's tour has expressed her "disappointment" over the scheduling at Wimbledon that saw Serena Williams, the defending champion, exiled to Court 2 for her second round match on Thursday.

Defending champion Serena Williams proceeded to the third round yesterday, but was still a long way from her formidable best, dropping the first set against the Romanian Simona Halep. There was no weeping when she finally prevailed 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, as there had been after her first-round victory, but her father Richard was eager to cast some perspective on her progress. Following the emergency surgery earlier this year to remove a blood clot in her lungs, he said that "whether she ever wins again or loses every match she plays, I'm just thanking God that she is alive".

Another round and another step up for Andy Murray. Ivan Ljubicic is a cagey old pro, he's done his court time and knows his game, although there is something that doesn't add up with the Croat.

Serena Williams identified Laura Robson as a player with the complete package as she talked up Britain's teenage tennis prodigy yesterday. Robson achieved the rare feat for a 17-year-old of winning a match in the main draw at Wimbledon when she beat Germany's Angelique Kerber in the first round.

Serena Williams has warned Wimbledon chiefs she deserves the same treatment as the top men after being kept off Centre Court and Court One again.

According to its proprietor, the reigning champion's "butt is way softer than normal" this time round. But perhaps that is no bad thing, when you are flying by the seat of your pants.

Serena Williams was forced to dig deep as she opened the defence of her Wimbledon title with a three-set victory over the spirited Aravane Rezai on Centre Court.

Even a rusty saw can perform an amputation, and Venus Williams duly made short work of some of the more tenuous delusions that have preceded her return to her favourite theatre of operations. She took exactly an hour to hack her way past an obligingly limp first-round opponent, Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, 6-3, 6-1. So much for the notion that even the Williams sisters, who have divided nine of the past 11 titles between them, might have ceded the pack a dangerous start this time.

Last year's Wimbledon runner-up Vera Zvonareva survived a first-round scare to defeat promising young American Alison Riske 6-0 3-6 6-3 this afternoon.