A great day at Wimbledon yesterday with some good battles from early to late but Serena Williams dug deep to ensure there was no shock at the hands of Briton Heather Watson in front of a big crowd on the Centre Court screaming for a British victory.on Friday.
With the shockwaves of Rafa Nadal’s exit at the hands of Dustin Brown 24 hours it looked like Serena Williams was going to suffer a similar shock versus Heather Watson.
The five times champion was two breaks down in the third set to her 59th-ranked opponent and at one stage stood two points from defeat before Williams clinched a 6-2 4-6 7-5 win.
“The older I get, I think the tougher, I didn’t think I was going to lose bur Heather surprised me she was really good and unbelievable, It was also the first time she had played a British opponent on the Centre Court and was not surprised with the overwhelming support for one of their own.” Williams told reporters she now faces a fourth round clash with sister Venus.
“I think every year, maybe this time next year I’ll be probably even stronger.”Serena also said.
The astonishing finale to the Centre Court action had shaken up an otherwise routine day at SW19 where Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova had imposed their own brutal authority on their battered opponents.
Djokovic dispatched a beleaguered Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-3 6-3 and Sharapova polished off Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu also in straight sets in their third-round matches.
Neither of the defeated duo, however, showed a fraction of the fight on display from 23-year-old Watson.
When Serena hits top gear, her opponents have a habit of rolling over, but the Briton overcame the disappointment of being steamrollered in the first set to rebound in the second, forcing Williams into a string of wild shots.
She reeled off six games in a row to clinch the second set and take a 3-0 lead in the third and served for the match at 5-4 having appeared to tame the Williams fightback.
Twice in the next game she was two points from the match, but Williams took her chances and after engineering a 6-5 lead, the American claimed victory on her third match point to leave Watson reflecting on a positive display but gut-wrenching result.
“I gave myself the opportunity to beat her. I didn’t take it this time,” she said. “But I’m really glad I was in that situation because I can learn from it.” I was at my best fit and strong today the best ever I have been I just gave that bit extra and the game could have gone either way. I learnt that I now can compete with the best in the world. It was great the crowd got behind me and give me a massive boost.
GYMNASTIC DEFENCE
The other top seeds had a far less testing day.
Djokovic has yet to drop a set and has barely broken sweat in reaching the last 16 and at times in his victory over Tomic his gymnastic defence was at its jaw-dropping and ligament-stretching best.
When the Serb is scrambling from left to right on the baseline and retrieving everything that comes back on to his side of the net, you half expect his battered opponent to throw in the towel.
To Tomic’s credit, he scrapped and battled to the bitter end but the 27th seed looked a relieved man to escape from a sun-baked Centre Court when Djokovic, chasing a third Wimbledon title, smacked down his 15th ace to close out the match.
Such was Djokovic’s dominance, his opponent might have suspected the world number one of having an extra limb — and not the prosthetic one he was handed to sign by an eager fan at the end.
“This gentleman gave me his artificial leg and my signature will make him feel better,” he quipped, before giving his future opponents a warning as to his current form.
“I was hoping I could play better and better as the tournament progresses and that is what is happening. As we are moving on, I feel more confident.”
It was a similarly one-sided story on Court One where Sharapova eased past Begu 6-4 6-3.
There were some picture-perfect backhands on display as fourth-seeded French Open champion Stan Wawrinka’s seamless progress continued with a 6-4 6-3 6-4 win over Fernando Verdasco, while Richard Gasquet sent misfiring Bulgarian 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov packing in straight sets.
Marin Cilic and John Isner will attempt to finish their third round Wimbledon match on Saturday tied at 10-10 in the fifth set after play was suspended due to bad light.
A lengthy encounter always looked on the cards given their track records for going the distance and as the gloom descended on Court One play was suspended after four hours and 15 minutes.
American Isner, who beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut by winning the fifth set 70-68 in the longest match in history, an 11 hour five minute epic in the Wimbledon first round in 2010, lost a first-set tiebreak before taking the second in similar fashion.
Croatian Cilic, who contested the second-longest men’s singles match ever played at Wimbledon in 2012 with a five hour 31 minute victory over Sam Querrey, took the third 6-4 before towering Isner battled to win the fourth in another tiebreak.
Ninth seed Cilic squandered a match point in the 10th game of the fifth set and the pair will return on Saturday as they try to set up a fourth-round tie with American Denis Kudla.