Venus Williams looked as though she was hurtling towards defeat
against a Japanese skiing fan yesterday before fighting back to set
up a fourth-round Wimbledon tie against another former champion
Maria Sharapova.
Williams was one game away from tumbling out but, as rain began
to fall again, she outsmarted Akiko Morigami 6-2 3-6 7-5.
While Williams's two-hour five-minute tussle with Morigami
justified Wimbledon's decision to award women equal prize money for
the first time this year, Justine Henin has done little to silence
the critics.
The world No 1 made the most of a short dry spell yesterday to
reach the quarterfinals with a 6-2 6-2 destruction of Patty
Schnyder.
Venus Williams of the US plays a return during her singles match
against Japan's Akiko Morigami at the Wimbledon tennis
championships in London yesterday. Reuters
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The Belgian, who completed a hat-trick of French Open titles
last month, has dropped only 15 games during her stroll into the
last eight.
"I was a bit surprised the match was so quick," Henin told
reporters. "I've done my job perfectly so far."
Things could get significantly trickier in the next round if she
runs into Serena Williams, provided the seventh seed manages to
dispatch Daniela Hantuchova.
Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, No 6 Ana Ivanovic, Nicole
Vaidisova and Nadia Petrova needed to win only a handful of games
yesterday to complete their progress into the fourth round.
Russian 12th seed Elena Dementieva, however, was upstaged by a
16-year-old Austrian. Tamira Paszek, the youngest player left in
the draw, underlined her growing reputation on the circuit to
thwart 25-year-old Dementieva 3-6 6-2 6-3.
"The strawberries with cream, playing all in white, the grass
courts, covering, uncovering the courts, rain delays, rain delays -
just everything is so special," the teen said.
Venus Williams was two breaks down in the second set when
torrential downpours over southwest London halted play on
Saturday.
On resumption her fortunes dipped further when she lost the set
after being broken again.
Morigami, the last Asian left in the field, seemed to have won
the psychological battle when she came from 0-40 down to hold her
serve for 3-2 and was gifted a break three games later thanks to a
Williams double fault.
But the three-times former champion clung on to deny Morigami a
famous victory and made no secret of what the win meant to her,
jumping up and down to celebrate her great escape.
"If Venus moves up to the ball and takes it off the bounce
instead of waiting behind the baseline, she'll be the only one
here, including Sharapova,"said Williams' father and coach,
Richard.
Venus saw the match as a positive.
"When it was time, I did what it took. I definitely would like
to do what it takes earlier," she said. "But I think on the other
hand, that kind of competition is invaluable in this kind of
tournament. So either way it's good for me."
Seventh seed Tomas Berdych ended Asian interest in the men's
competition when he squeezed past South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik 6-4
7-6 7-6 to reach the last 16.
It was the only men's match to be completed so far on day seven
of the grasscourt grand slam before rain once again interrupted
play.
(China Daily via Agencies July 3, 2007)