Venus Williams a factor at Wimbledon; Kvitova next

Williams overcame a slow start Wednesday for a 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory over 41st-ranked Kurumi Nara of Japan to reach the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for only the second time in her past 10 appearances. “Wisdom has served me well,” said Williams, who later returned to Court 3 to win a first-round doubles match with her sister Serena. The sixth-seeded Kvitova played with her right leg heavily taped because of a recent injury but had zero trouble in a 6-2, 6-0 victory over 59th-ranked Mona Barthel. The biggest names sent home were No. 8 Victoria Azarenka, the two-time Australian Open champion beaten by Bojana Jovanovski 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; and No. 7 David Ferrer, who lost 6-7 (5), 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 against qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov. Sam Querrey, an American ranked 67th, was at 9-all in the fifth set against 2008 Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga when play was halted because of fading light. In all, the results were nothing like those “Can you believe that?” outcomes of the first Wednesday in 2013, when Roger Federer was among seven players who have been ranked No. 1 to exit the field in less than 10 hours. […] Stakhovsky pulled off another surprise Wednesday, eliminating French Open semifinalist Ernests Gulbis. Murray’s 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Blaz Rola, who won the 2013 NCAA singles championship for Ohio State, was devoid of drama.