Venus Williams survives, advances to 3rd round
Associated Press
WIMBLEDON, England
Time and again after losing a point, Venus Williams rolled her eyes, slumped her shoulders and let out a shriek of dismay that echoed through Centre Court, reverberating off its roof.
Facing the oldest woman in the Wimbledon field — 40-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan — Williams was mired in a three-set struggle that lasted nearly three hours Wednesday, a tight, high-quality contest brimming with the sort of at-the-net, classic grass-court play seen so rarely nowadays.
“She doesn’t play anywhere near her age,” Williams said.
Williams, a five-time champion at the All England Club, was able to pull out a 6-7 (6), 6-3, 8-6 comeback victory over Date-Krumm and reach the third round.
“She played unbelievable today. I thought she had some luck on her side, too, with net cords, balls hitting lines. I just thought today was a perfect storm for her to try to get a win,” said Williams. “Thankfully I had some answers.”
None more effective than her serve, in the late-going, anyway. That stroke delivered 12 aces, helped Williams escape several jams and was clocked at 120 mph even in her final service game. Contrast that with Date-Krumm’s serves, mostly about 80 mph. One was 65 mph.
Date-Krumm, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 1996, quit tennis later that year, then came out of retirement in 2008, marveled at Williams’ serve afterward, saying: “Not only speed — it’s on the corner. So it was very, very difficult to break her.”
Not at the outset, actually. Date-Krumm won 13 of the first 16 points Williams served, breaking three times en route to a 5-1 lead. Williams turned things around, taking five consecutive games to go ahead 6-5. Williams then wasted a set point, and Date-Krumm eventually won the tiebreaker. In the second and third sets, though, Williams played much more cleanly, and she wound up winning by breaking in the final game.
On the men’s side, top-ranked Rafael Nadal beat Ryan Sweeting 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, compiling 38 winners and only seven unforced errors. In the third round, Nadal will face Gilles Muller — the only man other than Roger Federer to beat him at Wimbledon in the past six years. Since losing to Muller in the second round in 2005, Nadal is 28-2 at the All England Club; that includes defeats against Federer in the 2006 and 2007 finals, titles in 2008 and 2010, and missing the 2009 tournament with bad knees.
“Will be a big, big test for me,” Nadal said.
Andy Roddick’s strong serve was clicking again in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Victor Hanescu. The No. 8-seeded Roddick hit 15 aces, saved the only break point he faced and limited his unforced errors to six — all with a special pair of fans sitting at Centre Court: his parents.
“This is the first time they’ve seen me play here. ... I think today was the first time they ever sat in a box in my entire career,” said Roddick, who won the 2003 U.S. Open. “They picked a good court to debut that on. I think they’re having fun.”
Other winners included No. 4 Andy Murray, No. 9 Gael Monfils and 72nd-ranked Alex Bogomolov Jr.