VENUS FIRES AT WIMBY
VENUS Williams beat one 19-yearold opponent at Wimbledon yesterday. And she’ll face another tomorrow night.
Both of those players were born months after Williams made her debut at the All England Club – think about that for a minute.
Williams’ 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win over Japan’s Naomi Osaka made the 37year-old American the oldest woman to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since Martina Navratilova was that age when she was the tournament’s runner-up in 1994.
“I’ve had to step it up. I imagine that’s going to continue,” Williams said. “All I can do is try to be my best.”
This is the 20th appearance at the grass-court major for Williams, who has won the championship five times since her first match at the All England Club in 1997.
Next up for Williams tomorrow, with a quarterfinal berth at stake, is another foe not yet 20 – Ana Konjuh of Croatia.
But Williams said she didn’t focus on what year her opponent was born.
“It’s interesting, for sure. But I guess when you walk on the court, I don’t think either of us is thinking about the age,” she said. “You’re thinking about ‘how do I win?’”
With Serena off the tour because she is pregnant, and Maria Sharapova recovering from a leg injury, Williams was one of only two past Wimbledon winners in the women’s field when the tournament began. After a second-round loss by Petra Kvitova, Williams is the lone champion standing.
The 27th-seeded Konjuh had never been past the third round until upsetting 2014 Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-4.
Also advancing were French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, No.2-seeded Simona Halep, No.4 Elina Svitolina, No.6 Johanna Konta, No.21 Caroline Garcia and two-time Australian Open champion and former No.1 Victoria Azarenka.
On the men’s side, defending champion Andy Murray survived a scare from Fabio Fognini to scrape his way into the last 16 along with his chief title rival Rafael Nadal.
Murray didn’t have it all his own way against Fognini, but the world No.1 eventually subdued the eccentric Italian 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 to secure a 10th successive appearance in the Wimbledon fourth round.
Murray complained about Fognini taking too long between points as the 28th seed, who was given a point penalty for a visible obscenity, shrugged off a mid-match injury to push the Scot to the brink.
Nadal’s 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win against Russian 30th seed Karen Khachanov equalled the Spaniard’s personal record of 28 successive sets won at Grand Slams, a blistering streak dating back to this year’s Australian Open final.
NICK Kyrgios will visit a specialist in Melbourne tomorrow for an assessment on his hip injury.
The Australian retired at Wimbledon when trailing Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in a traumatic first-round exit.
Kyrgios had MRI scans taken in London before travelling back to Australia.