Wimbledon 2008: Venus Williams, Sharapova, Nadal win at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England — Defending champion Venus Williams scraped through a tight first set and then pulled away for a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory over British teenager Naomi Cavaday to begin her bid for a fifth Wimbledon title.

As reigning champion, Williams was up first on "Ladies Day" on Centre Court as the All England Club enjoyed a second spell of dry, sunny weather on a day that also featured wins by Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova and a loss by Nikolay Davydenko.

It took a while for the seventh-seeded Williams, playing her first grass-court match of the season, to find her game and take command against a 19-year-old wild card entry playing only her third career Grand Slam match.

"She played a great match," said Williams, who hit one serve at 125 mph. "She put a lot of pace on the ball, forced a few errors by me. I felt confident throughout the match. I felt good out there. I always feel good on that court."

Nadal — coming off his fourth straight French Open championship and first grass-court title — got off to a solid start on Centre Court. Runner-up to Roger Federer the past two years, the second-seeded Spaniard beat 122nd-ranked German qualifier Andreas Beck 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (0).

Nadal, who never faced a break point, managed to break Beck just twice out of nine chances. He saved his best for the tiebreaker, ripping a crosscourt forehand winner for 5-0, serving his 17th ace for 6-0 and forcing an error on match point with a backhand drop shot.

"The first match is always very difficult, but I played well in the last tiebreak," Nadal said. "I was a little bit nervous today. It was tough, but I have very nice memories from the last two years."

Two-time runner-up Andy Roddick faced Argentina's Eduardo Schwank, making his Wimbledon debut.

In the day's first major upset, fourth-seeded Davydenko was knocked out in the first round in straight sets by 116th-ranked German Benjamin Becker, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. It was the fifth time in seven years the Russian failed to get past the first round; he reached the fourth round last year.

"He played good, but I played very bad," Davydenko said.

The Russian has been at the center of an investigation into suspicious betting patterns involving a match in Poland last year when he retired citing an injury in the third set against Argentina's Martin Vassallo Arguello.