Wimbledon, England -- (Sports Network) - World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic staved off two match points in a marathon 3-hour, 24-minute second-round match before finally sneaking past veteran Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy on Wednesday at Wimbledon. Two-time champion Serena Williams joined Ivanovic in the third round here.

The French Open champion Ivanovic prevailed 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 10-8 in a tremendous bout against the 29-year-old Dechy on Court 1 at the venerable All England Club.

The 97th-ranked Dechy let Ivanovic know that she could be in for a long day by taking the first set via tiebreak.

And leading 5-4 in the second set, Dechy's first of two match points were set- up when Ivanovic misfired long on a two-handed backhand. But the Serbian promptly saved the first one with a forehand winner.

Another crucial, and certainly the most memorable, shot in the match came on the next point, when Ivanovic swatted a forehand that caught the net cord and barely trickled over onto Dechy's side to prolong the bout.

"It felt like time stopped for a moment as I hit that forehand," Ivanovic said. "I thought I hit a pretty good shot and I moved forward, but then the ball hit the net and it was in the air for a couple of seconds. I thought the ball might go out and the match would be over."

Ivanovic went on to hold her serve to level the second stanza at 5-5.

The set eventually went to a tiebreak, which the Serb won handily and closed out with an unreturnable serve.

In the third set, Ivanovic broke for a 4-2 lead, then lost her serve and broke again for a 5-3 advantage. But Dechy then broke and held to tie things up at 5-all.

Ivanovic then held for a 6-5 edge and set-up her first match points of the day with another forehand winner. Dechy, however, like Ivanovic did in the second set, staved off the match points and held her serve for a 6-6 deadlock in the final stanza, amid very windy conditions.

The 20-year-old Ivanovic would finally convert on her fourth match point of the day by launching yet another forehand winner in the 18th game of the epic 1-hour, 23-minute third set.

"I feel very lucky to have won and to have the chance to play again," Ivanovic said with a big smile.

The hard-hitting Ivanovic wound up with 10 aces and broke Dechy six times, compared to five breaks for the game Frenchwoman.

Ivanovic is now 15-1 in her Grand Slam matches this year, including a first- ever Grand Slam title in Paris earlier this month and a runner-up finish at the Australian Open back in January.

Up next for a relieved Ivanovic, who has reached at least the semis in four of the last five majors, will be Chinese Jie Zheng.

A sixth-seeded Williams, meanwhile, advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 decision against Poland's Urszula Radwanska on Court 2 and is now 39-6 lifetime at the All England Club.

The former top-ranked Williams owns eight Grand Slam titles, including back- to-back Wimbledon crowns in 2002 and 2003. She also reached the final here in 2004, but lost to Russian Maria Sharapova.

Up next for Williams will be fellow former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo. A 29th-seeded Mauresmo came from behind to beat Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. The two-time major champion Mauresmo, of France, captured the coveted Wimbledon championship two years ago.

Fourth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova eased into the round of 32 with a 6-2, 6-3 pasting of Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko, while eighth-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze charged past Romanian Edina Gallovits 6-4, 6-2. Kuznetsova was last year's U.S. Open runner-up and captured the U.S. Open back in 2004.

Kuznetsova's third-round opponent will be Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, while Chakvetadze will battle fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina.

The first round concluded here on Wednesday when fifth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva snuck past Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3. The match was suspended due to darkness here on Tuesday, with the two-time major finalist Dementieva leading 6-3, 3-3.

In other second-round play involving top-16 seeds, No. 11 Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli handled Ukrainian Tatiana Perebiynis 6-2, 7-5; No. 14 Agnieszka Radwanska, fresh off her grass-court title at Eastbourne, routed fellow Pole Marta Domachowska 6-1, 6-3; No. 15 Hungarian Agnes Szavay overcame Romanian Monica Niculescu 5-7, 7-5, 6-2; and No. 18 Czech Nicole Vaidisova held off Aussie Samantha Stosur 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. Bartoli was last year's surprise Wimbledon runner-up to four-time champion Venus Williams.

Mild upsets occurred when Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues erased 20th-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 3-6, 7-5, 9-7 and Zahlavova Strycova took out 28th-seeded Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 3-0, retired.

Additional second-round wins came for the aforementioned Zheng, Russians Rodina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Aussie Casey Dellacqua, and American Bethanie Mattek, who handled Russian Vera Dushevina 7-6 (8-6), 6-4. Mattek will face Bartoli in the third round.

The second round is scheduled to conclude with 16 women's matches on Thursday, including ones for second-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic, a third-seeded Sharapova, a seventh-seeded Venus, and 25th-seeded Lindsay Davenport.

Jankovic will take on Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro in a rematch of a French Open quarterfinal won by the Serb, while the Australian Open champion, three- time Grand Slam champ and former Wimbledon winner Sharapova will face fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva, the reigning champion Venus will be opposed by Brit Anne Keothavong, and the former Wimbledon winner Davenport will meet Argentine Gisela Dulko.

Some other top seeds seeing action on Day 4 will be Dementieva, ninth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina and 10th-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova. Safina was this month's French Open runner-up to Ivanovic.