NOT FOR the first time then, a thick blanket of cloud prevented devoted stargazers from glimpsing Venus. The American teenager's opening match at these championships was just one of several eagerly anticipated clashes to fall victim to the poor conditions on the first day of play here.

The postponements ensured that this was a particularly miserable start to Wimbledon 97 for followers of the women's game.

Williams had been due to take on Magdalena Grzybowska in her championship debut while fellow starlet Anna Kournikova was scheduled to meet Chanda Rubin but such was the disruption to the order of play that by midafternoon it was clear to the large opening day crowd that neither match would take place yesterday.

Monica Seles was another to suffer from enforced inactivity with the second seed's clash against Rachel McQuillan amongst the long list of matches which must be squeezed into a revamped second day's lineup.

That left French Open champion Iva Majoli as the best known of the big names to make it out onto court. Given the fourth seed's record at these championships, however, that only seemed likely to hasten her departure for the 19 year old arrived on court Number Two yesterday with a rather unenviable played two, lost two record in singles here.

If her first round opponent, Mariana Diaz Olivia felt that she was in for an easy afternoon, though, she couldn't have been much more mistaken, for the Croat, having lost the first set to two, settled into a game that would have done those with far more experience on grass credit and as the match wore on she steadily took control.

Majoli, it was obvious, has matured considerably since she last played here in 1995 and, thanks to the recent coaching of Peter Fleming, John McEnroe's former doubles partner, she looked surprisingly comfortable as she attempted to battle her way back to level terms with a highly varied game. Clearly unafraid to volley, the fourth seed was repeatedly rewarded for her enterprise and having cruised through the second set without loss she took the third 6-3 to bag her place in the next round.

"I feel almost as good after this victory as I did after winning the French Open. I know it's just one match but to finally win here is such a release for me."

Another women's seed to survive an early scare was Lindsay Davenport with the fifth favourite for the title failing to impose her game against fellow American Tami Jones in the first set. Davenport, eventually pulled through 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.