300: The legend of Serena

London, July 3 

Serena Williams clinched her 300th Grand Slam victory as the defending champion raced into the Wimbledon fourth round with a 6-3 6-0 demolition of Germany’s Annika Beck on Sunday.

Williams’s triple century moved the world No. 1 above Chris Evert into sole ownership of second place in the all-time list, with only Martina Navratilova’s Open era record of 306 ahead of her. The 34-year-old has now won 82 matches at Wimbledon as she remains on course to equal Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 Grand Slam titles with her seventh Wimbledon crown.

She was in peak form on Centre Court, hitting 25 winners and seven aces as she took just 51 minutes to set up a last 16 clash with Russian 13th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. “Oh, was it? Cool. Oh, nice. I had no idea. That’s awesome, right? I think that’s a lot of matches. It’s a lot of wins,” Williams said when told of her landmark.

“I thought it was good. I still want to get out to a little bit of a faster start but I was really focused and calm. Obviously I love having that Sunday off but I’m a little behind in my matches so I guess I had to play an extra day.”      

For only the fourth time, Wimbledon had thrown open its gates on a middle Sunday and Serena’s longevity meant she was one of the few current players who had played on the last extra day 12 years ago, defeating Spain’s Magui Serna. — AFP

Middle Sunday: Highs and Lows

Sania-Martina in round 3

Top seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis breezed into the third round with a 6-3 6-1 win over Japan’s Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato.

Paes, Matkowski out 

There will not be Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes face-off in the men’s doubles event as Paes and Marcin Matkowski suffered a second round defeat (6-3 6-2) to John Peers and Henri Kontinen.

Tsonga outlasts Isner

A Frenchman being involved in a long — or rather very, very long — fifth set epic against John Isner at Wimbledon had a feeling of deja vu about it. However, Jo Wilfried Tsonga made sure he did not end up on the losing side as his compatriot Nicolas Mahut did six years ago after he saved a match point to beat the American marathon man 6-7(3) 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2 19-17. The match lasted four hours and 24 minutes, with the fifth set alone lasting two hours and eight minutes.

KYRGIOS beats Lopez 

Australian Nick Kyrgios downed Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-7(2) 6-3 6-4 to set up a last-16 clash with second seed Andy Murray.

GASQUET Fights through

Seventh seed Richard Gasquet moved into the fourth round by beating Albert Ramos 2-6 7-6(5) 6-2 6-3.

Weary Del Potro beaten 

Juan Martin del Potro’s first Wimbledon campaign for three years ended as the Argentine crumbled to a 6-7(4) 7-6(6) 7-5 6-1 defeat by Frenchman Lucas Pouille in the third round. “As you can see I’m exhausted,” the 2009 US Open champion said. “Yesterday was even worse than today. My body is hurting everywhere but that’s normal after a big match against Wawrinka.”  

Kuznetsova overcomes coaching controversy 

Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the fourth round for the first time since 2008 despite becoming involved in a row with the umpire over coaching. The 31-year-old battled back from 2-5 down in the final set to defeat Sloane Stephens 6-7(1) 6-2 8-6. But the Russian was hit with a code violation for receiving coaching early in the final set which prompted a bitter exchange with umpire Marijana Veljovic. “I’m just doing my job,” said the official. “Well, you’re not doing it very well,” responded Kuznetsova. “I bet you all my prize money he (her coach Carlos Martinez) didn’t say anything.”

PAVLYUCHENKOVA wins

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Swiss 11th seed Timea Bacsinszky 6-3 6-2 in the third round.

VANDEWEGHE BEATS VINCI

American Coco Vandeweghe, seeded 27, beat sixth seed Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3 6-4 to book her place in Round 4.

BERDYCH TOO GOOD FOR ZVEREV

Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych secured a 6-4 6-4 4-6 6-1 victory over talented German teenager Alexander Zverev to reach round four.