Venus breaks down in tears after first-round win

Tenth-seeded Venus Williams advanced to the second round at Wimbledon on Monday and the American’s post-match press conference took an emotional turn after she was asked about the recent fatal car accident in which she was involved.

After her 7-6 (7), 6-4 win over Elise Mertens of Belgium at the All England Club in London, Williams broke down in tears when questioned about the June 9 car crash that led to the death of the passenger in the other vehicle two weeks later.

Williams wrote on her Facebook page on Friday that she was “devastated and heartbroken by the accident” in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., that resulted in the death of 78-year-old Jerome Barson.

Asked about the social media post, Venus started to break down.

“There are really no words to describe, like, how devastating and — yeah,” Williams said. “I’m completely speechless. It’s just — yeah, I mean, I’m just …”

Williams sat silently with her head in the palm of her hands.

“Maybe I should go,” Williams said as she left the media room before returning to answer a few additional questions about her match.

Williams was not injured in the Florida crash, but Palm Beach Gardens police found her at fault. The family of Barson has opened a wrongful death lawsuit against Williams.

Police said Williams was going only 5 mph when she entered the intersection. Authorities said there was no evidence that alcohol, drugs or texting while driving were factors in the accident.

The 37-year-old Williams, playing in her 20th Wimbledon, needed five match points to secure the win on Monday.

The five-time Wimbledon champion had to wait through a 33-minute rain delay to win her opening match. When play was stopped, she had two match points in the second set and was leading 5-3.

Mertens held serve to make it 5-4, but Williams served out the match.

Venus will next face China’s Qiang Wang, who stopped Kai-Chen Chang of Taipei 6-3, 6-4.

Other seeded winners included No. 2 Simona Halep of Romania, No. 4 Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine, No. 6 Johanna Konta of Britain, No. 8 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, No. 11 Czech Petra Kvitova, No. 13 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, No. 15 Elena Vesnina of Russia, No. 17 American Madison Keys, No. 18 Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia and No. 21 Caroline Garcia of France, No. 22 Czech Barbora Strycova, No. 25 Carla Suarez-Navarro of Spain and No. 27 Ana Konjuh of Croatia.

Victoria Azarenka made a successful return to Wimbledon with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 triumph over American CiCi Bellis. The unseeded Belarus star is just one month removed from her return to the tennis after the birth of her first child in December.

While Azarenka was victorious, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni was not as fortunate, as German Carina Witthoeft posted a 6-3, 5-7, 8-6 win over the 26th-seeded Croatian. Also, Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic posted a 7-6 (6), 6-2 win over 31st-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci.

Halep beat New Zealand qualifier Marina Erakovic 6-4, 6-1. She will next face Beatriz Haddad Maia in the second round after the Brazilian defeated Laura Robson of Britain 6-4, 6-2.

Svitolina posted a 7-5, 7-6 (8) victory over Australian Ashleigh Barty. Konta breezed to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Taipei’s Su-Wei Hsieh. Kvitova, who is a two-time Wimbledon champ, cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Sweden’s Johanna Larsson.

Cibulkova, Ostapenko and Vesnina required three sets to advance to the second round. Cibulkova notched a 6-3, 3-6, 9-7 victory over German Andrea Petkovic, Ostapenko also went the distance in a 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus and Vesnina posted a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win over countrywoman Anna Blinkova.

The right-handed Keys, who defeated Nao Hibino of Japan 6-4, 6-2, was playing for the first time since having a second surgery on her left wrist.

“It’s obviously not perfect,” said Keys, who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2015 and the fourth round last year. “I haven’t been able to do the repetitions that ideally I would have wanted to do, but it feels fine. Doesn’t hurt anymore. That’s really all I care about.”

Sevastova posted a 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory over Russian Yulia Putintseva and Garcia had an easy time of it against Slovakian Jana Cepelova, winning 6-1, 6-1.

Strycova breezed to a 6-3, 6-3 win over Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg. Suarez-Navarro needed three sets to collect a 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 win over Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.