World No. 2 Rafael Nadal was given a tough workout by Latvian teenager Ernests Gulbis before prevailing 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (2), 6-3 in an absorbing second round tie at Wimbledon yesterday.

The Spaniard, runner-up in 2006 and 2007 and seeded to meet five-time champion Roger Federer in the final again, came through an attritional battle against the 19-year-old on Court One at the All England Club in London.

Rafael Nadal reacts during his match with Ernests Gulbis at the second round of Wimbledon yesterday.

Gulbis, the world-ranked 48 who reached the quarterfinals at the French Open, threatened to produce another shock after Wednesday's departure of third seed Novak Djokovic by claiming the first set thanks to a dominating serve.

Nadal hit back to claim a one-sided second but needed to call on his entire repertoire of strokes to assert control in the third and fourth. He next plays experienced German Nicolas Kiefer, the 27th seed, who reached the quarterfinals on his Wimbledon debut in 1997 but has not gone beyond the fourth round in nine further attempts.

Keifer beat Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina 6-0, 6-3, 6-1.

Four-time French Open champion Nadal is bidding to become only the third man in the Open era after Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg to win both the French and Wimbledon titles in the same year.

Earlier, after a marathon first set lasting longer than many of her matches, defending champion Venus Williams overcame another erratic performance and pulled away to beat Britain's Anne Keothavong 7-5, 6-2 and reach the third round.

For the second straight match, the four-time champion faced a modest British opponent in the day's opening contest on Centre Court and was tested to the limit in the first set. The pattern and result were almost identical from her 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Naomi Cavaday on Tuesday.

The first set alone lasted 1 hour, 9 minutes as Williams struggled to take command against a determined 92nd-ranked player who came into the tournament with only one win at Wimbledon in seven attempts.

"I lost a little bit of focus (in the first set) but got it back thankfully," the American said.

Williams jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead before lapsing into a flurry of errors that turned the set into a battle of attrition, with the fourth and fifth games taking more than a half an hour.

Keothavong held for 2-2 after going to seven deuces, and then Williams saved eight break points in a game that went to 10 deuces, closing it out with a 200 kph service winner.

They went back and forth on serve until Williams broke for the set in the 12th game, hitting a deep backhand return that forced a forehand mistake by Keothavong. Williams broke for 3-1 in the second set with another deep serve return and cruised the rest of the way to close it out in 1 hour, 44 minutes.

Williams will next take on unseeded Maria Martinez Sanchez after the Spaniard saw off the challenge of Indian No. 1 and 32nd seed Sania Mirza 6-0, 4-6, 9-7.

Mirza, who had wrist surgery in April, had been expected to defeat Martinez Sanchez.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily June 27, 2008)