SERENA SURVIVES – BARELY
Former champ bucks big scare vs gritty Chinese
WIMBLEDON, England – While watching Serena Williams come from behind at Wimbledon, older sister Venus sat in the front row stifling a yawn.
Nothing to worry about. Venus was correct – barely. Serena hit a Wimbledon-record 23 aces, held every service game and narrowly escaped an upset bid by Zheng Jie, winning 6-7 (5), 6-2, 9-7 in the third round Saturday.
Williams, who erased all six break points she faced, served three times to stay in the match and held each time at love. She was pushed to deuce serving in the final game but closed out the victory with a volley winner, then hopped in glee on the Centre Court grass.
“I just wanted to get through that match,’’ Williams said. “The last thing I wanted to do was lose.’’
The 5-foot-4 1-2 Zheng, seeded 25th, played with little flash but plenty of consistency, committing just 17 unforced errors. She hung in the match despite hitting only one ace.
Venus Williams – a five-time champion who lost in the first round – may not have been concerned, but Serena looked plenty worried. She rocketed a return to break for an 8-7 lead in the final set, then showed how much she wanted to win, throwing back her head and letting out a long scream.
Williams has been stalled at 13 Grand Slam titles since winning Wimbledon for the fourth time in 2010, and dealt with a series of health issues in 2010-11.
Her next opponent will be unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, who won all 24 points in the first set – a so-called “golden set’’ – and beat French Open runnerup Sara Errani 6-0, 6-4. It’s the first known golden set by a woman in the Open era, the International Tennis Federation said, and the BBC showed a highlight package of all 24 points. Williams will face Shvedova on Monday. “Hopefully I’ll be able to win a point in the set,’’ Williams said. “That will be my first goal, and then I’ll go from there.’’
Defending champion Petra Kvitova, No. 2-ranked Victoria Azarenka and former French Open champions Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone also reached the fourth round.
Lukas Rosol, who stunned two-time champion Rafael Nadal in the second round, flopped in his follow-up, losing to No. 27-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (6).