Serena rolls to milestone victory
LONDON — Serena Williams has won so many Grand Slam matches that she has lost count.
Then again, as she noted Sunday, it’s her losses that get a lot more attention nowadays.
The top- seeded Williams joined Martina Navratilova as the only women with 300 victories at major tournaments in the Open era by overwhelming Annika Beck 6- 3, 6- 0 in 51 minutes to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon.
‘‘ Every time I step out on the court, if I don’t win, it’s national news,’’ Williams said a day after men’s No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic was ousted. ‘‘ But if I do win, it’s just like a small tag in the corner.’’
After being pushed to three sets in the second round, Williams was about as dominant as can be against Beck. She won the last 17 points she served and 24 of the last 28 points overall, and she accumulated 25 winners to Beck’s two.
Afterward, Williams — who is looking to win her seventh Wimbledon and 22nd major overall — was asked whether she knew she had reached a milestone by earning her 300th victory in Grand Slam matches, breaking a tie with Chris Evert for second place behind Navratilova’s 306.
‘‘ No. Was it? Cool. Oh, nice,’’ Williams, 34, said with a laugh. ‘‘ I had no idea. That’s awesome, right? That’s good, right?’’
She’s now 300- 42, an .877 winning percentage, in Grand Slam play and will go for No. 301 right away. All 16 men’s and women’s fourth- round matches are scheduled for Monday, when Williams faces 13th- seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Yes, thanks to the sun Sunday, the tournament is all caught up after persistent rain had left a backlog of matches. It was only the fourth time since Wimbledon began 139 years ago that matches were played on the middle Sunday.
On the other three occasions — 1991, 1997, 2004 — fans lined up overnight to buy tickets that normally are so difficult to come by, creating a loud festival of flag- waving, face- painted folks thrilled to be able to attend for once. But seats only could be purchased online this time, and there was a less vibrant vibe than in the past on what is known as ‘‘ People’s Sunday.’’
‘‘ I thought it would feel really different,’’ Williams said when she was asked to compare the day with an average one at Wimbledon. ‘‘ But it didn’t feel really different.’’
Among the other women who reached the fourth round was 27th- seeded Coco Vandeweghe, who defeated sixth- seeded Roberta Vinci 6- 3, 6- 4. Vandeweghe, who reached the quarterfinals last year, won 24 of 28 first- serve points and 14 of 17 points when she went to the net to improve to 11- 1 on grass this season.
Seventh- seeded Richard Gasquet, 10th- seeded Tomas Berdych and 12th- seeded Jo- Wilfried Tsonga, who outlasted John Isner 19- 17 in the fifth set, were among the men who advanced to the fourth round.