Anna Kournikova on pressure faced by friend Martina Hingis

The Russian's victory on Court No 2 saw scenes more reminiscent of pop hysteria than the All England Club.

Six security men had to escort the 17-year-old through the crowd to the players' building, pushing their way through the throng.

With Britain's Greg Rusedski following her on the relatively small court, an enormous crowd built up outside, and two people fell in the rush to get to the court before the start of the Russian's match.

Kournikova's opponent, Venezuelan Maria Alejandra Vento, has reached the third and fourth rounds in the last two years at Wimbledon.

The 17th seed beat her 7-5 6-4 but had to save three set points in a decidedly uncomfortable first.

She then broke the Vento service early in the second, although the Venezuelan hit back, punishing the 1997 semi-finalist with a series of aggressive ground strokes from the baseline.

Kournikova's superior quality and fleeter movement eventually reaped its reward and although she survived a break point against her while serving for the match she ran out a routine winner.

Graf's comeback

Elsewhere on day three Steffi Graf survived a scare of her own against South African Marianne de Swardt.

The No 2 seed was 5-1 down in the first set, but won three straight games to boost her confidence.

Despite losing the opener 6-4, the German was back on track.

The most senior woman left in the tournament after Hingis' exit tore through the second set 6-3 and the final, 6-2.

And Graf came as close as any of the seeds to following Hingis out of the tournament.

Venus Williams, Amanda Coetzer, Sandrine Testud, Dominique Van Roost, Monica Seles and Nathalie Tauziat all won as every single one of the favoured players prevailed.

But Jennifer Capriati, the former teenage prodigy and Olympic champion went out in a second-round defeat by Holland's Seda Noorlander.

British interest ends

And the British women's challenge fizzled out as the last remaining survivors both bowed out.

Karen Cross joined Martina Hingis in suffering a chastening 6-2 6-0 defeat at the hands of a 16-year-old.

Cross had been hoping to reach the third round of the championships for the second time in her career following her exploits two years ago.

But she found Dutch qualifier Kim Clijsters, the youngest competitor in the women's singles event, in inspired form and had no answer to the teenager's all-round game.

Louise Latimer did manage to win a set in her second round match and also saved three match points before eventually losing to France's Sarah Pitkowski who wrapped up the match 7-5 5-7 6-3.

Hingis makes surprise trip

Elsewhere there was a surprise visitor to the All England Club as Martina Hingis returned to the scene of her shock defeat on Tuesday.

The world no 1 was there, despite withdrawing from her planned doubles campaign with Kournikova.

The Swiss cited "a recurring medical problem" as the reason, and it had been reported that she had flown home to be with her mother.

But she turned up at the players' entrance amid speculation she had been summoned to explain the withdrawal to tournament referee Alan Mills.

Hingis refused to answer questions from waiting fans and reporters, breaking into a trot to escape their attentions.

Meanwhile Kournikova has a new playing partner.

Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman, who will join her in the mixed doubles and the pair have been named as third seeds.

Women's singles 2nd round, Wednesday
Seedings in brackets