World number one Serena Williams survived an almighty scare at Wimbledon on Friday, battling back to beat Britain’s Heather Watson in three sets and stay on course for a 21st grand slam title.
Williams, who has lifted this year’s Australian and French Open titles, was forced to dig deep in front of a raucous home crowd after an error-strewn showing against the superb Watson, recovering from 3-0 down in the final set to win 6-2 4-6 7-5.
The 33-year-old, who said it was one of her toughest matches, will face her sister Venus in the last 16 – their 26th career meeting – as she continues her bid for a sixth Wimbledon title.
The signs looked ominous for Watson early on after being swept aside in the first set but the 23-year-old bounced back in the second, forcing Williams into a string of wayward shots as she matched up to her more powerful opponent.
Watson reeled off six games in a row with three straight service breaks to level the match and race into a 3-0 lead in the decider.
Even after a Williams rally she was twice just two points away from an unlikely win, only for the American to show the grit and guile behind many of her successes to prevail.
Earlier, Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova imposed brutal authority on their battered opponents a day after Rafa Nadal’s exit at the hands of Dustin Brown.
Any danger that Brown’s victory would spark an uprising was swiftly quashed as Djokovic dispatched a beleaguered Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-3 6-3 and Sharapova polished off Irina Begu.
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 onto his side, you half expect his opponent to throw in the towel.
To Tomic’s credit, he battled to the bitter end but the 27th seed looked a relieved man to escape from a sun-baked Centre Court when Djokovic 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.
One-sided story
It was a similarly one-sided story on Court One where Sharapova eased past Begu 6-4 6-3.
Barring a brief wobble in the second set when the Russian was broken serving for the match at 5-1, it was a straightforward day at the office for Sharapova.
Early birds at Wimbledon would have sighted some of the most picture-perfect backhands under the mastery of their proponents Stan Wawrinka, Richard Gasquet and Grigor Dimitrov.
Wawrinka has made a habit of scything through the early undergrowth of grand slams almost unnoticed and continued his progress with a 6-4 6-3 6-4 win over Fernando Verdasco.
At the same time, Gasquet and Dimitrov squared up in a true battle of sublime backhands with Frenchman Gasquet finding his range to beat the Bulgarian 6-3 6-4 6-4.
There were predictable fireworks as Nick Kyrgios moved into the next round, beating Milos Raonic 5-7 7-5 7-6 6-3.