While Serena breathed a sigh of relief, world number 59 Watson departed to a standing ovation after narrowly failing to become the first British woman to beat a reigning world number one since Sue Barker defeated Chris Evert in 1979.
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But the 59th-ranked Watson – roared on by the British faithful on Center Court – gave Williams her toughest match this summer.
Venus and Serena Williams each won their third round matches, which means the two sisters will face each other in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
The fourth-round meeting will be their first at a Grand Slam event since Serena beat Venus here in the 2009 final. While Serena is gunning for the calendar grand slam, Venus is searching her first Wimbledon title since 2008.
“I will speak to Venus over the weekened, she is in better form than me, She has the advantage than me”. “But at least one of us will be in the quarterfinals, so that’ll be good”.
Ex- Wimbledon champion Andy Murray took to social media to acclaim Watson’s heroic defeat, while Williams herself admitted her opponent “should have won the match”.
But Serena Williams better watch out that her boyfriend Patrick Mouratoglou isn’t getting her too cocky right before French Open 2015.
“It would have been a lot better if I won”, Watson said.
She had just fashioned the greatest of great escapes at Wimbledon to keep alive her dreams of pulling off a “Serena Slam” – but only just.
A string of powerful groundstrokes gave Watson an early warning and in the third game Williams had the had the break, firing a blistering backhand that was out of her opponent’s reach.
The 23-year-old summoned the courage to recover however, and levelled the match with her second set point. But she’s my sister today, my sister next week, next year. A double fault break point down, and all of a sudden, Watson was in business up 3-0 with a chance for a 4-0 lead.
Williams stalks the world’s top tennis courts, winning as many matches through ability as intimidation.
Friday’s program began in somber mood at the All England Club where thousands of fans joined officials and players in observing a minute’s silence for the victims of last week’s Tunisia beach massacre, most of whom were British.
Watson confessed: “I remember in that game I just kept saying to myself, “this is really important, this game” It would have just gotten me that bit further ahead, that bit closer”. In the end, Watson had the knife embedded in Williams but could not apply the final twist required to silence the 20-time grand slam champion.
Williams continued: “I’m actually more negative than one would think”.
American top seed Serena Williams fought off an incredible challenge by Britain’s Heather Watson to win their third round clash at Wimbledon.
An almost-tearful Williams left Centre Court admitting Watson “should have won the match”. “They’re just kind of cowards thinking they can say whatever they want on the internet”, she said. “I’m playing the toughest player I’ve played in women’s tennis”.
The French Open champion will take on Belgium’s David Goffin for a place in the quarter-finals.
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“I kind of expected it would be like this whole insane elation or something like that but I’m pretty calm about it”, the unseeded American said of upsetting Stosur, beating the Aussie for the third consecutive time, and moving into the fourth round.
