LONDON: Four-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams moved into the third round of Wimbledon with an overpowering serving performance on Thursday, hitting 10 aces in a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Hungarian qualifier Melinda Czink.
Williams won 37 of 44 points while serving, including 27 of 28 on first serves, and never faced a break point.
Williams, who is seeded sixth at the All England Club, is trying to win the 14th Grand Slam title of her career, but first in two years.
Meanwhile, world number one Maria Sharapova was forced to dig deep before securing her place in the third round with a 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-0 victory over Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova.
The 25-year-old Russian, who won Wimbledon in 2004, had recovered from 5-2 down to take the first set and had just broken to move 3-1 ahead when the tie was suspended due to bad light on Wednesday evening.
Sharapova asked for play to be called off for several minutes before finally getting her wish, but her pleas looked to have backfired when Pironkova hit back to take the second set when play resumed on Thursday.
Faced with the growing possibility of a shock exit, Sharapova suddenly snapped into top gear and blew Pironkova off court, breaking three times to seal the win.
Djokovic’s late night
Novak Djokovic had another late night underneath the Centre Court roof on Wednesday, but made sure he didn’t have to stay quite as long as two years ago, wrapping up a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over American Ryan Harrison in just under two hours.
Top-ranked Djokovic is in the Wimbledon history books for having won the match with the latest finish ever in the tournament, a five-set victory over Olivier Rochus that ended at 10:59 p.m. in the 2010 first round.
He was tested again by Harrison but showed his sharpness in key moments to eliminate the American just before 10 p.m.
”It was a different condition,” the defending champion said. ”It was a really enjoyable match.”
By the time Djokovic was wrapping up his match, there was total darkness outside Centre Court, where floodlights illuminated the white retractable roof and hundreds of seats were gaping empty as some fans had already gone home.
That didn’t take away from the experience for Djokovic.
”There’s a lot of tradition and history and champions who have made history on this court, so I’m trying to enjoy every single moment of it,” he said.
The match had a late starting time as it was the fourth of the day to be played on Centre Court – instead of the regular three – as Wimbledon played a bit of catch-up because of persistent rain delays.
Other results from Wednesday night include Kim Clijsters’ win over Andrea Hlavackova in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
Li Na didn’t have a good day, with the Chinese number one’s slump worsened as she tumbled out of the second round with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to unseeded Sorana Cirstea.
Since becoming the first Asian player to win a grand slam after lifting the 2011 French Open title Li has failed to get past the fourth round of any of the big four tournaments.
More from day four
The fourth day of play began with sunshine and warm temperatures.
That certainly seemed to suit Sara Errani, who beat Anne Keothavong 6-1, 6-1.
Ana Ivanovic continued on her merry way, seeing off Kateryna Bondarenko 6-1, 7-6, making her way into the third round with another strong performance.
Spanish fans got to see David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco winning their respective matches. Rafael Nadal was scheduled to play his second round match later in the evening.
Paes in doubles win
After the controversy revolving around the Indian Olympic tennis team, Leander Paes got his first taste of action at Wimbledon with a comfortable three-set win with partner Radek Stepanek. The pair took out the Aussie duo of John Peers and Colin Ebelthite 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
The Indo-Czech pair took the first set easily, before facing stiffer resistance in the second. The Australians were unable to seize their break point chances, though, and were completely outclassed.
Murray in Croat battle
Britain’s Andy Murray had a bit of a challenge in moving into the next round when he came up against the towering Ivo Karlovic on Centre Court. The match saw two tie-breaks, with Murray taking the latter one, sealing the match 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (4). (Agencies)