HEATHER Watson has gained a reputation for bravery, not only on the tennis court but also in the face of online abuse that has included death threats.

After beating Daniela Hantuchova to take her place in round three, she labelled such abusers as cowards, but insisted she would carry on in her career, and in her use of social media, undeterred by them.

Watson was by no means flawless against Hantuchova, but played consistently enough to win 6-4, 6-2. She will have to be a whole lot more consistent, however, when she takes on Serena Williams in the third round on Friday.

Watson is aware that the further she goes in this tournament the more she might attract further unwanted attention, but, asked about it after beating Hantuchova, she insisted it was a problem for all players, not just herself or indeed for other women.

"I don't think just for female players - I think for everybody," she said. "I think those people, they've got no life.

"They're just kind of cowards thinking they can say whatever they want on the Internet. They don't understand that we're just people at the end of the day.

"It's not very nice at all. I don't think they'd appreciate people saying that stuff to them. But what can you do? I don't think you're going to be able to stop it."

After explaining that the worst messages had been sent "a long time ago", Watson added that a lot of the abuse came from gamblers, disappointed if she had lost a match on which they had staked some money. "It usually is. You either win or lose the money. They shouldn't gamble."

It was the third day in a row that Watson was in action, as her first-round match with Caroline Garcia, the No 32 seed, was suspended at a set apiece on Monday night before being completed on Tuesday. But the 23-year-old showed no sign of tiredness, even on a baking hot No 1 Court, and deservedly made her way past the 32-year-old from Slovakia.

Hantuchova, who is ranked below Watson these days but has been in the world top ten, began more confidently and broke her British opponent early on to take a 3-1 lead. That game was a particular low point for Watson, who double-faulted three times in it, but she recovered quickly to win four games on the trot, then soon had the set wrapped up.

It was a similar story in the second set, with Hantuchova taking an early advantage but Watson quickly hitting back. If the susceptibility of both women to dropping their serve at times suggested that this was a war of the weak, at others it was an engaging baseline battle. The main lesson in it for the British woman, especially as she looks ahead to that match with Williams, was that she cannot always rely on her undoubted fighting qualities to get her out of a scrape: better by far not to get into it in the first place.

Playing before Williams had beaten Timea Babos 6-4, 6-1, Watson did not want to presume she would meet the American, but did say it would be a match from which she could learn a lot. "I've never played Serena before, so I'd love to play her," she said.

"But she's obviously a very, very tough opponent. But I feel like in matches like that, you've got a lot to gain, so it's a real positive as well to play her.

"I don't just watch her. I watch most of the girls play. I really enjoy watching women's tennis. I'm a bit of a geek. I study. I like to pick different parts of each of their games and try to incorporate into mine."

Williams had to wait until early evening before starting her match against Babos, but she did not hang around once it got under way, winning in just under an hour. Maria Sharapova, the No 4 seed, was detained just a few minutes longer by Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands, winning 6-3, 6-1 in 64 minutes.

For someone who was supposedly rusty coming into this tournament as a consequence of not having competed in a warm-up grass-court event, Sharapova has looked impressive so far, even if her serving action has deserted her from time to time. Still, although like Watson she served three double-faults in the one game, she was still relatively pleased with her progress.

"I didn't serve my best today," she said. "Made a few too many unforced errors. Overall, once we got into the rallies, once I realized I needed to be a little more patient, then things started working a little better for me."

The biggest casualty of the day was the No 7 seed, Ana Ivanovic. The former world No 1 lost 3-6, 4-6 to the in-form American doubles specialist Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

The first round, scheduled to be finished in full on Day Two, was finally completed on Day Three when two ties in the lower half of the draw were decided. Madison Keys, the American No 21 seed, beat Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland in three sets and now meets Elizaveta Kulichkova. The Russian also took three to get past Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer, winning 10-8 in the third.