American Serena Williams reacts to a point lost to Russia's Vera Zvonareva during their Eastbourne International second round match yesterday.

Serena Williams' comeback tournament at Eastbourne ended in the second round with a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 5-7 loss to top-seeded Vera Zvonareva.

Zvonareva came through a tense tussle in 3 hours, 12 minutes for only her second win over the 13-time grand slam champion. The Russian lost to the American in last year's Wimbledon final.

Williams fought back from 2-5 down in the deciding set, and saved three match points at 5-4, but Zvonareva immediately broke again and a tiring Williams couldn't muster another fightback.

Serena's elder sister, Venus, reached the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne International earlier with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 win over Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

Venus took just over an hour to get past Ivanovic as she bids to regain her strength and fitness for Wimbledon which starts next week.

The American, a five-time Wimbledon champion, had been sidelined for five months with a stomach injury.

Asked how she felt about her second-round performance, she told reporters: "Obviously, it's great, no breaks of serve. That's ideal for me in the match.

"To get a double break at the end just feels awesome. I was really happy to have those clean service games and not a lot of errors.

"I was just hoping not to be injured, honestly. The first match was definitely kind of nerve wracking, hoping to come off the court on two legs. That was the first goal. Then to win a match is the ultimate goal."

Venus had been out of action since the Australian Open in January having suffered abdominal and hip injuries.

She marked her return with a creditable 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 victory over Germany's Andrea Petkovic on Monday and looked sharper yesterday, breaking her opponent's serve four times.

Also, third seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat Briton Elena Baltacha 6-1, 7-6 (0), Czech fifth seed Petra Kvitova defeated holder Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (8), 7-6 (4), seventh-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia beat Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 6-3, 6-2 and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland upset Italian fourth seed Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-2.

Hit in the face

In Den Bosch, Netherlands, third-seeded Yanina Wickmayer recovered from being hit in the face by a tennis ball to beat Arantxa Parra Santonja 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in the second round of the Unicef Open yesterday.

Wickmayer was leading 2-1 in the second set when a ball ricocheted off her racket's frame and hit her in the face, close to her left eye, as she attempted a backhand service return. The Belgian looked shaken and sat in her chair for several minutes, holding a bottle of water to her face, before resuming the match.

After losing the second-set tiebreaker, Wickmayer fought back to break the Spaniard twice in the third.

Wickmayer said it took her a few games to recover from the hit, "but by the third set I was fine."

Jelena Dokic had her second straight-set victory of the tournament to beat fourth-seeded Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-4.

The Australian meets Johanna Larsson in the quarterfinals after the Swede beat Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

In the men's draw, another third-seeded Belgian, Xavier Malisse, had an easier second round, beating Dutch wildcard Jesse Huta Galung 7-6 (2), 6-4.