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Tennis: Serena Williams wins, avoids Wimbledon upset wave Serena Williams easily sidestepped the wave of upsets at Wimbledon, although she still finds herself in an unusual position at the All England Club
The five-time champion avoided the kind of early exit that has sent many top players tumbling out of the tournament, beating Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round on Thursday. Next up for the 31-year-old Williams is a rare matchup against an opponent more than a decade her senior. She will face Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm, who at 42 became the oldest woman to reach the third round at Wimbledon in the Open era. Date-Krumm beat Alexandra Cadantu of Romania 6-4, 7-5 to reach the third round for the first time since 1996, when she went to the semifinals. "I have so much respect for her," said Williams, who herself became the third oldest woman in the Open era to win a Grand Slam tournament when she captured the recent French Open. "I think she's so inspiring to be playing such high level tennis at her age. And she's a real danger on the grass court, I know that. I definitely will have to be ready." Date-Krumm is the second-oldest woman to have won a match at Wimbledon after Martina Navratilova, who was 47 when she reached the second round in 2004. She took a 12-year break from tennis before returning in 2008. "I don't know how she's able to do so well," said Williams, adding that she doesn't expect to be around for another 10 years herself. "I didn't see myself playing at 31," she said. "I definitely do not see myself playing at 42." Age certainly doesn't seem to be slowing her down so far. A day after Roger Federer led the list of big names to exit in the second round, the top-ranked Williams never looked in danger against Garcia, the 100th-ranked French qualifier. Williams broke twice in each set to extend her career-best winning streak to 33 matches as she aims for a sixth Wimbledon title, having seen her two main rivals — Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka — eliminated on Wednesday. The 19-year-old Garcia is seen as a potential future star, with a game especially suited for grass. But she couldn't force a single break point against the American's strong serve on Court 1, having also lost to Williams in the second round of the French Open last month. "It's always difficult to play Serena, but I played much better than in the French Open because maybe I know her a little bit and I know what is going to happen," Garcia said. Williams is among those who expect to see a lot more from Garcia in the big tournaments in the future. "She's incredibly promising, she does everything well," Williams said. "Her serve is amazing, so I knew it would be a good match on the grass." After that wild Wednesday, with seven players retiring or withdrawing with injuries, a sense of normalcy returned to the All England Club. In the men's draw, seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych and No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro both advanced in straight sets. Berdych, the 2010 runner-up, beat Daniel Brands of Germany 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-2, while del Potro rallied from a break down in the second set to oust Jesse Levine of Canada 6-3, 7-6 (7), 6-3. Sixth-seeded Li Na of China did look in trouble for a while before overcoming a poor second set to beat Simona Halep of Romania 6-2, 1-6, 6-0. Halep's lower back was treated after the first set, but she still dominated the second. Li, the former French Open champ, found her stride again in the third. "Welcome to the crazy women's tennis tour," Li said. Other seeds to win included No. 14 Samantha Stosur and No. 18 Dominika Cibulkova. Bernard Tomic of Australia, whose father and coach John Tomic has been barred from tournaments after allegedly assaulting his son's hitting partner, advanced by defeating American James Blake 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. There was one injury retirement: Michael Llodra of France quit after losing the first set 7-5 against 23rd-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy. That was the eighth retirement or walkover of the second round in singles play, equaling the record for a single round at Wimbledon in the Open era. The International Tennis Federation said eight players also quit in the first round in 2008. The record for a Grand Slam tournament is nine players withdrawing or retiring from the first round at the 2011 U.S. Open. Later in the day, top-ranked Novak Djokovic was to play Bobby Reynolds of the United States. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/75117.aspx
