Serena survives third-rounder at Wimbledon

The sixth-seeded Williams fired a career-high 23 aces, the most ever in a
Wimbledon women’s match during the 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 9-7 win that took nearly 2
1/2 hours.

It was a statistical see-saw for Williams, who had 54 winners and 24 unforced
errors, but after a break of serve following an overpowering return gave her
an 8-7 lead, she was barely able to close out her opponent.

Zheng fought off a pair of match points and seemed ready to turn back a third
when her return was headed down the line. Williams, though, was in the right
spot and the return into the open court finally put an end to the match and
moved the American into the fourth round at Wimbledon for a sixth straight
year.

The 25th-seeded Zheng won the first set when Williams sent a backhand wide to
end the tiebreaker, but the second set was dominated by the 13-time Grand slam
champion.

Williams, who moved to 6-0 all-time against Zheng, will face Kazakhstan’s
Yaroslava Shvedova in the fourth round. Shvedova won all 24 points in the
first set against Sara Errani and turned back the 10th-seeded Italian, 6-0,
6-4.

Second seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus breezed past Slovakian qualifier Jana
Cepelova, 6-3, 6-3. The reigning Australian Open champion, Azarenka advanced
to take on 14th seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. Ivanovic, a former French Open
champion, rallied to beat 22nd-seeded German Julia Goerges, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Defending champion Petra Kvitova, the fourth seed from the Czech Republic,
powered past American Varvara Lepchenko, 6-1, 6-0.

Italian Francesca Schiavone, the No. 24 seed, defeated Klara Zakopalova, 6-0,
6-4. Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, draws Kvitova in the next
round.

Italian Roberta Vinci, the 21st seed, toppled Croatian qualifier Mirjana
Lucic, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3). Vinci’s fourth-round foe will be Austrian Tamira
Paszek, who defeat Yanina Wickmayer, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5. Paszek upset seventh
seed Caroline Wozniacki in round one.

Sunday will be the traditional rest day at Wimbledon and the fourth round will
commence Monday.