Dinara Safina and Venus Williams are among featured players on today’s Wimbledon schedule

Safina, Venus Williams on Wimbledon schedule today

WIMBLEDON, England — Women’s top seed Dinara Safina and No. 3 Venus Williams are among the featured players on Tuesday’s Wimbledon schedule.

Men’s second seed Roger Federer and No. 4 Novak Djokovic were among the winners during Day 1 yesterday.

Winners on the women’s side include second seed Serena Williams, fourth seed Elena Dementieva and No. 7 Vera Zvonareva

American James Blake was the highest seed to fall as Italian Andreas Seppi beat the No. 17 seed in straight sets.

Serena Williams knows she’s expected to win when Wimbledon begins, and that’s fine with her.

The two-time champion met expectations in the opening round Monday by beating qualifier Neuza Silva 6-1, 7-5. Williams is seeded second and considered the biggest threat to her sister Venus, the two-time defending champion and tournament favorite.

Serena said she draws confidence from projections she’ll be playing in the final a week from Saturday.

“I always feel like if people can believe in me, then I should, too,” she said. “I always think about how I feel when other people that are top seeded are playing. I’m like, ‘OK, they’ll win.’ So I feel like I should feel that way about myself as well.”

Against the No. 154-ranked Silva, Williams lost only nine points on her serve, but converted only one of five break-point chances in the second set and struggled to close out the win.

“I could have played a ton better, especially on key points,” Williams said. “That’s a usual feeling for me from first round to the finals. I’m really insatiable. I always want more.”

Williams’ second-round opponent Wednesday will be Jarmila Groth, who is ranked 69th. Williams won when they met at the Australian Open in 2008 but had to search her memory when asked about Groth, who recently changed her name.

Williams conceded it’s difficult to remember who’s who on the women’s tour.

“I just know the standard: Everyone is from Russia,” Williams said jokingly. “Sometimes I think I’m from Russia, too. I feel like, you know, OK, all these new ‘ovas … I think my name must be Williamsova.”

Groth is actually from Australia, but five of the 10 highest-ranked women are Russians.

Two others are named Williams. Venus was to begin a bid for her sixth Wimbledon title and third in a row Tuesday against 19-year-old Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland.

Serena was runner-up to her sister a year ago and has since won the U.S. Open and Australian Open, giving her 10 Grand Slam titles. She’s still chafing from a quarterfinal loss this month to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova — yes, a Russian — at the French Open.

“That goes on the list of tournaments I should have won,” Williams said. “I feel like I had a chance to win my quarterfinal match, and I didn’t. I was more disappointed than normal, actually.”

After the loss to Kuznetsova, some criticized Williams as ungracious for saying she gave the match away.

“I feel like I did give credit to Svetlana,” Williams said Monday. “I get along with her well. There’s no problems between me and her. I feel like I choked. I should have won the match and I didn’t, and she went on to glory. That’s just the bottom line. There’s nothing else to be said about it.”

Williams is only 5-5 since starting the year 21-2, but Wimbledon usually snaps the family out of any slump. At least one Williams has made the Wimbledon final eight of the past nine years.

In men’s play on the opening day, defending champion Roger Federer began his bid for a record 15th major championship by beating Yen-hsun Lu 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. Also advancing were No. 4 Novak Djokovic and No. 13 Robin Soderling, the runner-up to Federer at Roland Garros this month.

The new roof on Centre Court remained open because no rain fell. Otherwise, the biggest upset was No. 17-seeded James Blake’s loss to Andreas Seppi.

American men went 3-2 on day one. Winners were Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey and 34-year-old Vince Spadea, who had lost in the first round nine times. U.S. women went 2-0, with Jill Craybas joining Williams in the second round.

Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion, also advanced on the women’s side.