A blockbuster against fellow five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams.
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With one victory apiece Friday, they will set up the latest installment of their historic sibling rivalry at the grass-court tournament, only this time it would be in the fourth round.
The trio played their second round matches today; Murray comfortably defeated Dutchman Robin Haase 6-1, 6-1, 6-4, while Ward won 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3 against Czech Jiri Vesely; the pair are now into the third round. She played unbelievable and should have won match. Playing at Wimbledon might well provide a significant edge to her game but she will do well just to stay in the contest with one of the greatest players of all time. Venus has yet to lose a set this tournament and is winning at least 71 percent of her first serve points. She was very good in defence and tried to put some pressure on Serena.
Watson had a poster of Serena on her bedroom wall as tennis-mad child in the Channel Island of Guernsey.
“I was two points away, so I’m pretty disappointed”, Watson lamented.
A straight-forward Williams hold led to a nerve-jangling Watson service game and though the Briton was able to hold off two match points, a third was too much as the United States of America player prevailed after little over two hours on centre court.
Watson, who is ranked 59th in singles, was confident she could take on the woman she once called her hero. A fired up Serena is almost impossible to beat.
Williams grabbed a third break point – so Watson blasted an ace. It harkened back to Isner’s record 70-68 fifth-set victory spread over three days in 2010, but he and Cilic have a looooong way to go to equal that marathon.
Trailing 3-0, Serena earned five break-point opportunities. She could get beyond the top 20… And, of course, she can’t help giving a quick glance over at Tatjana Maria – her German opponent.
At 3-2, Watson built a 40-love lead before Williams fought back to 40-40, then earned the break. She was warned for using foul language.
Williams will face her older sister Venus in the fourth round. Suddenly Serena’s story was back on track. Serena hasn’t dominated Venus over the years like she should.
Two other American women were eliminated: Belinda Bencic of Switzerland beat qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 7-5, 7-5, and French Open runnerup Lucie Safarova downed Sloane Stephens 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Watson has had stretches of form this year that promised more than they delivered.
Watson came within a whisker of sending arguably the greatest female player of all time home from SW19. Now, Serena needed one more break for the win.
Serena was told Watson’s goal is to reach the Top 20, then was asked if that’s possible for the Brit.
She’d meet Venus in the fourth round.
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And twice, pushed to the precipice, Williams regrouped, resisted and wound up winning, as she so often does. “If after all these years, she wouldn’t be nervous, it would mean, probably, that she would not care enough to keep on playing”.
