Serena looks ahead as her father grumbles
Richard Williams felt an opponent was given too much advice.
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Serena Williams was more willing to shrug off the unusual ending to her second-round victory at Wimbledon than her father.
Richard Williams thought chair umpire Sandra de Jenken overstepped her authority Wednesday by reminding his daughter’s opponent, Alicia Molik of Australia, that a questionable call could be challenged under the replay system making its All England Club debut this year.
“There’s a lot of strange things that have happened to us,” Richard Williams said. “That was horrendous. To be honest with you, it makes you think that that particular referee — not all of them — should be persona non grata.”
Here’s what happened on the final point of Williams’ 7-6 (4), 6-3 win: A linesman ruled that Molik’s forehand sailed wide, but apparently neither player heard the ruling. So play continued until Williams hit a forehand volley winner.
Replay challenge
When the opponents went to the net to shake hands, de Jenken climbed down from her chair and told Molik she could use the “Hawk-Eye” call-challenge system. That replay confirmed the original call, and the match ended there.
“I don’t think that Alicia heard that the ball was called out,” said Williams, a two-time Wimbledon champion. “She [de Jenken] said the ball was called out. If she wanted to challenge it, she could. I said, ‘You may as well. I would have challenged it, too. I’m not upset. I’m not going to hold it against you.”’
Later, Williams said: “That was a little weird. I don’t know if that’s in the handbook to suggest to challenge a call.”
Umpire’s role
Her father was a bit angrier.
“I don’t think she [Molik] did it on her own,” Richard Williams said. “I thought the umpire encouraged her to do that.”
His daughter had some trouble against Molik — but said she wasn’t affected by the tight hamstring that bothered her in the first round.
“Not at all,” Williams said. “Not today. I was feeling better. Don’t jinx me.”
Molik, a hard-serving Australian who reached the top 10 in February 2005 before an inner ear infection slowed her progress, took a 4-1 lead in the opening set.
“I was really angry,” Williams said of falling behind so quickly. “I thought it was unfair that I got down so far. I was like, OK, it’s just one break.”
After pulling even, Williams won the final five points of the tiebreaker and screamed, “Come on!” after ending the set with a 121 mph ace. In the second set, Williams trailed by a service break at 2-1, then came back to win five of the next six games.
Other women’s winners Wednesday included No. 1 Justine Henin, who played with a long strip of black tape on her right shin while beating Vera Dushevina of Russia 6-0, 6-4 on Centre Court.
Henin is trying to complete a career Grand Slam.
“I hope I can make it here one day,” said Henin, twice the runner-up at Wimbledon. “I hope I will have another chance and be at my best level. It’s a good motivation for me.”
Martina Hingis, who won here in 1997, and No. 3 Jelena Jankovic also reached the third round, while No. 6 Ana Ivanovic won her first-round match.