Second seed Li Na and five-time champion Venus Williams struck early blows for the Wimbledon thirty-somethings on Wednesday with straight-sets wins which took them into the third round.
Australian Open champion Li, a three-time quarter-finalist at the All England Club, swept to a 6-2 6-2 victory over Austria's Yvonne Meusburger, hitting 33 winners to just four from the world No.38.
Li, 32, goes on to face Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.
Williams, 34, and playing in her 17th Wimbledon, defeated pint-sized Japanese Kurumi Nara 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 in a battle of little and large on Court 3.
The American, who is the oldest woman left in the draw, stands at an imposing 1.85m compared to Nara's 1.55m and the difference in stature -- both physical and sporting -- eventually told despite the world No.41 breaking early in both sets.
Williams will face 2011 champion Petra Kvitova in the third round if the Czech sixth seed beats Germany's Mona Barthel.
Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the 2012 runner-up, also went through with a 6-4 6-0 win over Australia's Casey Dellacqua and next meets either Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito or Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova.
French Open semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis became the highest ranked man to lose so far at the tournament when the 12th seed went down to Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine, 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
Stakhovsky, who shocked Roger Federer in the second round in 2013, next faces either France's Jeremy Chardy or Australia's Marinko Matosevic for a place in the last 16.
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