Williams puts field on notice with easy win
WIMBLEDON, England — Serena Williams walked into her news conference at Wimbledon holding her phone, a cold bottle of water and a statistics sheet that reinforced what was clear from watching her third-round singles victory Saturday:
She is as close to being back to her best as she’s been in a while.
Williams, hampered for much of this season by injuries or illness, took a step forward against 18th-seeded Julia Goerges, a powerful hitter in her own right who lost to the American in last year’s semifinals at the All England Club. Sure enough, Williams hit serves at up to 120 mph, put in a tournament-best 71 percent of her first serves, never faced so much as one break point and won 6-3, 6-4.
“It’s been an arduous year for me,” said Williams, who had competed only 12 times in 2019 until this week, mostly because of a bothersome left knee that finally is pain-free. “So every match, I’m hoping to improve tons.”
Then maybe it was a good thing she played twice Saturday.
About four hours after her singles match, Williams headed out to Centre Court for her much-ballyhooed debut as Andy Murray’s teammate in mixed doubles. Other than one slip near the net when she lost her footing in the first set — she laughed it off — Williams looked good during the 6-4, 6-1 win over Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarachi, including smacking one serve at 122 mph, equaling the fastest hit in singles by any woman (Williams, naturally) during the tournament.
But if Williams is going to win an eighth singles championship at Wimbledon, and a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title overall, she will want more performances like the one she gave against Goerges.
She produced more winners than unforced errors (19-15), and Goerges finished with 32 forced errors — a reflection of just how difficult Williams can make it for opponents to handle shots she sends their way.
Goerges credited Williams with causing havoc with her returns, as well.
After averaging 10 aces in the first two rounds, Goerges was limited to half that many.
Of more significance, perhaps, was that Williams’ stinging replies to serves immediately put her in control of points.
“It’s fair to say that she builds up enormous pressure with her returns,” Goerges said. “That means I need to go to the limit in my service games.”
In the men’s draw, eighttime champion Roger Federer and two-time winner Rafael Nadal both won in straight sets to move closer to a semifinal showdown. Federer’s record 17th visit to the fourth round at Wimbledon will come against No. 17 Matteo Berrettini, an Italian never before this far at the grasscourt tournament.
“I’m very happy how it’s going so far,” said Federer, a 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (4) winner over No. 27 Lucas Pouille. “I hope it’s going to take a special performance from somebody to stop me, not just a mediocre performance.”
Nadal, who defeated Jo-wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, meets unseeded Joao Sousa next.
After the traditional middle Sunday off, action resumes Monday with all fourth-round men’s and women’s singles matches.