Serena and Roddick keep American flag flying

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) Muttering and mumbling throughout, Serena Williams looked a tortured soul at Wimbledon today before finally reaching the third round.

After rating her first-round performance as ''two out of 10'', Williams is unlikely to be satisfied with her ragged display today when she came back from a break down in each set before beating Australian Alicia Molik 7-6 6-3.

At least Williams already has two Wimbledon trophies to her name. Fellow American Andy Roddick is still looking for his first.

Third seed Roddick, twice a finalist, has had six failed bids and he moved a step closer to his dream with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 defeat of Thailand's Danai Udomchoke.

Danai's defeat completed a bad day for the Asian nations.

Ninth seed Martina Hingis survived two match points in her previous match but avoided any such drama in a 6-1 6-2 thrashing of Japan's Aiko Nakamura.

China's Yan Zi, Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei and Ayumi Morita of Japan all bowed out in the first round of the women's draw.

French Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic is fast becoming used to being in the spotlight after she was feted by thousands when she went home to Serbia following her Paris exploits.

Today, however, the sixth seed had to make do with a more modest crowd on court 18 and surged past Melinda Czink 6-0 7-6 in another delayed first-round encounter.

Williams has been tipped by many, including John McEnroe, to win the title here but she has so far failed to live up to that expectation.

With more loose shots than winners, the seventh seed began berating herself at 4-1 down in the first set. But a woman who defied the system by winning the Australian Open in January while ranked 81st in the world was not about to roll over.

She missed a set point on her serve at 6-5 but let out an almighty roar of ''Come on!'' when she bagged it in the tiebreak with an ace.

Williams staged another fightback in the second, sealing it with what she thought was a winning volley.

But the contest ended in confusion when Molik, after exchanging handshakes with Williams, challenged a call midway through that final rally.

Molik had no option but to accept defeat when Hawkeye confirmed the line judge's verdict.

REUTERS NY KP2150