LONDON -- Venus Williams, after dropping the opening set, rallied to beat Qiang Wang and reach the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.
Williams powered her way through the final set to pull out the 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory at the All England Club. She wound up with more than twice as many winners as her opponent, 43-20.
Williams will be joined by Victoria Azarenka and Johanna Konta, who survived a tough match to reach the third round for the first time.
In another match, American Madison Brengle advanced with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 victory over No. 11 Petra Kvitova, a two-time champion who continues her comeback after being severely injured by a knife-wielding intruder in her home last December.
American Madison Keys didn't fare as well, however, suffering her earliest loss at the grass-court tournament.
This is Williams' first tournament since a two-car crash police say she caused in Florida on June 9. A 78-year-old passenger in the other vehicle died about two weeks later.
Williams also beat Wang at the French Open in May. The 55th-ranked Wang has never been to the third round at a Grand Slam tournament.
Williams has seven major titles, including five at Wimbledon. Wednesday's match was her 97th in the main draw at the All England Club, breaking a tie with her sister Serena for the most among active players.
Azarenka, a two-time Wimbledon semifinalist, beat 15th-seeded Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-3 on No. 3 Court. She improved to 8-0 against Vesnina and has never dropped a set to the Russian player.
Azarenka recently returned to action after giving birth in December. Wednesday's match was only her fourth of the season. She missed last year's tournament because of injury and hasn't played at a Grand Slam event since the 2016 French Open.
A former No. 1 but unseeded at Wimbledon, Azarenka will next face Heather Watson, who swept No. 18 Anastasija Sevastova 6-0, 6-4.
Konta trailed early but managed to come back and hang on for a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 10-8 victory over Donna Vekic on Centre Court.
"It's a nice feeling not to have to keep going out there," Konta said. "We were out there a long time, and both of us battled incredibly hard.
"Whoever was going to draw the short straw was going to be hurting."
Konta, seeded sixth, is in the third round at the All England Club for the first time in six appearances. She reached the final at a grass-court warm-up tournament in Birmingham last month but lost to Vekic.
"I think I overall trusted my game a bit more this time," said Konta, who is trying to become the first British woman to win the Wimbledon title since Virginia Wade in 1977. "I'm definitely here with the intention of wanting to be a part of the event for the full two weeks."
Kvitova, the champion in 2011 and 2014, was playing in only the third tournament of her comeback after being cut by a knife-wielding intruder at her home in the Czech Republic a little more than six months ago. Kvitova needed surgery on her left hand, the one she uses to swing a racket.
She made 38 unforced errors and had nine double-faults.
Brengle, a 27-year-old from Dover, Delaware, lost in the first round at Wimbledon in each of her two previous appearances.
Keys, the No. 17 seed, saved four match points in the second set but faded in the third, losing to Italy's Camila Giorgi 6-4, 6-7 (10), 6-1.
Keys has struggled this year with her left wrist. She had an operation last October, missed the start of this season, then needed a second surgery on the wrist last month after the French Open to remove scar tissue.
She was a quarterfinalist at the All England Club in 2015, and her three other previous appearances ended in the third or fourth round.
The 86th-ranked Giorgi's best performance at Wimbledon was getting to the fourth round in 2012.
In other matches, No. 2 seed Simona Halep survived a test from Beatriz Haddad Maia, winning 7-5, 6-3. No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Francesca Schiavone. No. 8 Dominika Cibulkova also advanced, defeating American Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-4.
No. 13 Jelena Ostapenko, No. 21 Caroline Garcia and No. 27 Ana Konjuh also won.
Other seeds to fall included No. 18 Anastasija Sevastova, No. 22 Barbora Strycova and No. 25 Carla Suarez-Navarro,
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.