Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova both shook off recent injury problems to sail into the Australian Open third round with straight-set victories.

Serena Williams extended tennis’ most one-sided rivalry with her 17th consecutive victory over Maria Sharapova to reach her eighth Wimbledon final.

Martina Navratilova has backed Serena Williams to go on and match Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 grand slam singles titles.

Maria Sharapova tore into Wimbledon rival Serena Williams, setting the tone for a tournament likely to be dominated by their unseemly public row.

Serena Williams thought she had put the lid on the prospect of a Wimbledon feud with Maria Sharapova when they held face-to-face talks at the pre-Wimbledon party.