Courting disaster

Sports Writer

Sunday 1 July 2012

THE old Court No 2 used to be regarded as the graveyard of champions but this year it is Centre Court which has become Wimbledon's theatre of cruelty.

Serena Williams was made to sweat before clinching victory Photograph: Reuters

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Stewart Fisher

At lunchtime yesterday, the same arena which saw Rafael Nadal brought to earth on Thursday night and Roger Federer forced into an unseemly scramble for survival 24 hours later, stood transfixed as another one of their great idols was put through the wringer. This is Serena Williams' 13th visit to Wimbledon and for almost two-and-a-half hours everyone was seriously considering that it might be an unlucky one.

This was a re-enactment of both a 2004 first-round encounter between these players and a 2008 semi-final – even in defeat Zheng donated her prize money to victims of the earthquake in her home region of Sichuan – and the players defied the gusting wind in this corner of South West London to serve up a classic.What, more than anything, got the world No 6 seed and four-time Wimbledon winner through to the fourth round were the 23 aces she fired down, a number which broke her own Wimbledon record. This was remarkable considering the breeze which regularly buffeted her pony tail, displayed her purple undergarments and caused numerous misfires on her ball toss. "It definitely helped me out today because I wasn't doing my best on my return like I normally do," the 30-year-old said.Serena, the sole surviving Williams sister in the draw after the defeat of Venus in the first round, has only twice failed to reach the second week at SW19 in her 12 previous visits, but seven Grand Slams have now been and gone since she last lifted a major trophy. Her last two attempts at the majors ended early against Ekaterina Makarova in Australia and Virginie Razzano in Paris, while last year's Wimbledon attempt ended against Marion Bartoli at the last-16 stage.For a while yesterday, it seemed like she wouldn't get that far. The three break points in the first set were in Zheng's favour, and even when they went unclaimed it was the diminutive Chinese player who produced the better tennis in the breaker.But to say Williams has the instincts of a street fighter is to state the obvious. To fist pumps and shrieks of "Come on", the youngest of five sisters from the tough LA suburb of Compton broke the Zheng serve twice to take the second set comfortably, then somehow came through a deciding set which shredded the nerves. Zheng squandered further break-point chances of her own before Williams won the day, breaking for 8-7, and claiming her third match point.There was new-found respect between the pair as they embraced at the net. "After we finished the match she just told me 'you are crazy, you are crazy'," Zheng said. "She said this was an unbelievable match from us. So I hope that she can win this year. I really wanted to win, because I remembered this is my third time against her on Centre Court. But it is very difficult."Next up for Williams – who bemoaned Nadal's departure, re-iterated her support of equal pay and was cheered on by Hollywood actor Dustin Hoffman – is Yaroslava Shvedova, of Kazhakstan, who managed to get through an entire set against French Open runner-up Sara Errani without conceding a single point. "Hopefully I'll be able to win a point in the set," Serena said. "That will be my first goal."

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Courting disaster

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