Venus Thunders Into Wimbledon Fourth Round
LONDON—Champion Venus Williams cranked up the power on Saturday to thunder into the fourth round of Wimbledon, beating Spanish qualifier Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1 7-5.
The American, pursuing a fifth title at the All England Club, appeared to be in a hurry to join sister Serena in the last 16 and went about her task with ruthless efficiency.
Left hander Martinez Sanchez had taken a set off Venus Williams in their only previous meeting but during the first 17 minutes of their contest on Saturday it seemed she might be heading for a dreaded whitewash.
Williams raced into a 5-0 lead and, though her 101st ranked opponent briefly interrupted the run to win her first game, the 28-year-old American sealed the set with a 188 kph serve.
The Spaniard provided stiffer resistance in the second before Williams ended the match with her fastest delivery of the day, a 204 kph thunderbolt.
"I was very happy with the performance today," said the seventh seed, who unleashed 11 aces during the 72-minute exhibition on Court One.
Luckily for Williams, though, reaching the second week here for the ninth time in 12 appearances did not depend on her ability to add up the numbers.
"I served well, I had nine aces so that always helps the cause," she smiled.
As Williams headed for a fourth-round meeting with little-known Russian Alisa Kleybanova, the omens also looked good for her on Saturday.
Since 2000, the elder of the Williams sisters has reached the final at the grasscourt grand slam every time she has cleared the third-round hurdle.
Following the shock exits of top seed Ana Ivanovic and 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, Venus and Serena are now favourites to contest their third final at the All England Club on July 5.
On Saturday though, Venus was not thinking that far ahead.
She was caught on camera yawning as she waited to step on court but once the action began, it was Martinez Sanchez who was caught napping and within a blink of an eye, she had lost the first five games.
Her serve-and-volley tactics failed to make a dent in Williams's game plan and the long-limbed American looked to be heading for an easy afternoon workout.
Williams, who has failed to win a title all season, banged away a string of crunching volleys and grass-cutting groundstrokes to establish a 4-2 lead in the second.
Martinez Sanchez, playing in the third round of a grand slam for the first time, briefly rallied to level at 4-4 but there was never any doubt about the outcome.
Williams's final 204 kph (127mph) delivery was a shade slower than her personal record of 206 kph—achieved at the French Open last year—but she was still happy to round off the win in style.
"Yeah, 127's a good way to end it," she beamed.
Dementieva Battles Into Fourth Round at Wimbledon
Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva battled her way into the fourth round at Wimbledon on Saturday 7-6 7-5 after a patchy and slow start against feisty Argentine Gisela Dulko.
Dementieva was annoyed with herself afterwards, determined from now on to be much more aggressive on her serve and come out fighting from the very first point.
The Russian, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon two years ago, started by dropping her first four games on a sunny number two court.
But then she suddenly found her rhythm, fought doggedly back and landed the tiebreak 7-2.
"This is the last thing you want to have—a slow start on a grass surface. Everything is so fast. You really have to be ready to serve from the first point and be aggressive and take advantage," she said afterwards.
"I have played a couple of times against Gisela before and I have never beaten her. So maybe today in the beginning I was a little bit nervous," she said.
The second set was an intriguing battle of wills with the determined pair level-pegging all the way to 5-5 when Dementieva made the crucial breakthrough on Dulko's service and then held on to win.
The victory taught Dementieva some valuable lessons.
"The most important thing for me is to be focused in the beginning and not give such a big opportunity to the other player," she said on her 10th year at Wimbledon. "I have to work more to play better here."
Dementieva said it was so difficult to win a grand slam because "you have to stay fit and healthy for two weeks and it's all about sometimes a slow start but then how you can progress and how you can improve your game."
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