No Serena catsuit at SW19

You can expect to see Serena Williams at Wimbledon — but not in the catsuit that has been the talk of the French open, where last night she battled through to the third round.

Faced with the skilful Australian No 1 Ashleigh Barty, the 36- year- old American overcame a hesitant start with a show of will that saw her win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Williams has, according to an All England Club spokesperson, already submitted her tennis attire for approval and it is different to the one she has been wearing here, not even an all-white version of it. Whatever she wears, the American ( below) will be playing with a more consistent self-assurance by the time she reaches SW19, although her standard already proved to be too much for the 17th seed, an impressive scalp at this stage of her return. The American was wayward and had her rusty movement exposed in the opening set, but she fired herself up for the second to look more like the player who won the 2017 Australian open before taking a break.

Her fist-pumping win, which sees her now face German Julia Goerges, means an eagerlyanticipated meeting in the fourth round with Maria Sharapova is only one match away.

The russian progressed to one stage before that with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Croatian Donna Vekic. To make it happen, Sharapova must beat sixth seed Karolina Pliskova, who owns the most formidable serve on the tour, so it is far from certain that she can hold up her end of the bargain anyway.