Venus Williams stayed focused on the task at hand as she began her 20th Wimbledon campaign with a straight-sets victory.

The American has been champion five times at the All England Club and battled out a 7-6 (9/7) 6-4 win against Belgium’s Elise Mertens on Court One.

It was not a perfect performance from the 37-year-old, whose preparations for this year’s championships have been far from routine.

Williams has said she is “heartbroken” over a fatal car crash in the United States last month which led to the death of a 78-year-old man, Jerome Barson.

His daughter has filed civil court documents in Florida, claiming Williams was “driving carelessly and recklessly” which “led to the catastrophic injuries and death” of Mr Barson.

Williams has chosen to play on, and showed her on-court resilience in coming through the opener.

Second seed Simona Halep had a much smoother path, the Romanian beating New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic 6-4 6-1, while Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina fended off the stiff challenge from Australian grass-court specialist Ashleigh Barty, coming through a 7-5 7-6 (10-8) winner.

American Madison Keys made a bright start with a 6-4 6-2 success over Japan’s Nao Hibino, and revealed she had defied advice from those close to her to stay away from Wimbledon following recent wrist surgery.

“I will say no one on my team wanted me to play here, so coming out and having a good match and hitting some good backhands kind of eased everyone’s minds a bit,” Keys said.