WIMBLEDON TENNIS Williams advances to quarterfinals

The defending champion easily defeated Magui Serna Sunday.
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Serena Williams said her biggest achievement in the first three rounds of Wimbledon was making it to the second week. So far, so good.
With older sister Venus upset in the second round, Serena's third go at defending her Wimbledon title is moving in a new direction.
There's no prospect of an all-Williams final for the first time since 2001, so all the Williams' hopes are riding on Serena. It seemed to show Sunday, when she was more subdued than usual in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Magui Serna.
"I made it through with all the rain," the top-seeded Williams said when asked to summarize her week.
Finding her rhythm
Expanding the critique, she said for the first time since returning in March from eight months off the tour after a knee operation, she's finding her rhythm.
"Last year I wasn't feeling really good with my play ... really was disappointed in it," she said. "This year, I'm feeling better because I've been though a lot physically.
"And for me to be at this point right now, where I'm really, really, feeling good for the first time, I'm looking at the positives."
Williams hasn't won a major since Wimbledon last year -- her fifth title in six consecutive Grand Slam events -- and has lost the aura of invincibility.
To reverse that, she's tinkering with her game, backing off the serve and trying to get to the net more often.
Against Serna, Williams fired 11 aces, had only one double-fault and was 93 percent on first-serve points won. She said it's part of her evolution.
"For years my Dad's been telling me, 'Take the pace off. Don't hit them 120 if you can hit it 110,' " she said. "It finally clicked: 'OK, I'm going to hit 110 and just place it.' And it worked every time. I took a lot of pace off and got it in."
With the serve working, she tried something a bit novel for an avowed baseliner.
She tried a serve-volley, once, and it worked. She also won 10 of 16 points at the net and counteracted Serna's low-bouncing slice shots.
"I started adding the spin and actually playing grass-court tennis instead of clay court or hard court. I was [going] to the net a little bit more. I was pretty excited about it. So I'm getting better each round."
Next opponent
French teen Tatiana Golovin was even with Switzerland's Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-3, 2-6, 3-3, 40-40 when their third-round match was suspended late Sunday due to rain. They were to resume today, with the winner facing Williams in the Round of 16.
Two days were washed out in the first week and rain caused delays on two other days, putting organizers 120 matches behind after six days.
So for the third time in 118 Wimbledon tournaments, organizers scheduled matches on the middle Sunday, which is usually reserved for rest. Tickets were sold on a first-come, first-served basis and 22,155 flocked in for "People's Sunday."
Waiting for tickets
With no reserved seating, organizers offered 28,000 tickets -- including 11,000 for Centre Court -- to people waiting in a queue that stretched more than a mile. Some 1,500 people camped in line overnight for the prime seats.
Tim Henman was the crowd favorite on "People's Sunday," with the Centre Court full for his third-round win over Hicham Arazi. That put him into the fourth round for the ninth consecutive year at Wimbledon.
A semifinalist four times, he was still hoping to become the first British winner of the Wimbledon men's singles title since 1936.
He was due back on Centre Court today against 2003 finalist Mark Philippoussis.