After a tough second round match, Serena Williams gave a wonderful display of tennis in her third round match at the Wimbledon Championships against Annika Beck of Germany. The German gave a good fight on the first set, but in the second Williams confirmed her dominance. It took less than an hour for the defending champion to book her spot in the fourth round and confirm a clash against Svetlana Kuznetsova. This win also marked Serena Williams' 300th career win at a Grand Slam.
Beck fights, but Williams is too strong and takes the first set
Williams had a great start as she opened the match hitting two winners volley to later take the game. Beck had a small scare in her opening service game as she faced a break point, but three unforced errors in a row from Williams helped her level the scoreboard to 1-1 all. Surprisingly, it was the world number one who lost her serve first after a very erratic game. However, the German was not able to consolidate the break losing her service to love and making a double fault on break point. Williams used her powerful serve to avoid being in the same position of her last game and closed her service game with an ace, leading 3-2. The American got the second break point after attacking her opponent’s backhand to get the lead of 4-2.
The defending champion then consolidated the break after Beck hit a forehand unforced error. Williams was not letting Beck play her best as at this point in the match the German had only got one winner and on her service game, she had to come back from being 15-40 down. Beck then hit a double fault, but later recovered the game point with a forehand winner. The German was able to hold her serve after Williams missed an easy volley. Three unforced errors gave Williams three set points which she won by hitting an ace to take the set in 32 minutes, 6-3.
Serena Williams in full dominance
In the start of the second set, Williams didn’t have to do much to get the early break as her opponent handed it to her by hitting four unforced errors in a row. The American consolidated the break with a hold to love, again thanks to the mistakes of Beck. Williams was doing everything right and on break point, there was a long rally that Williams ended up winning after hitting a remarkable forehand down the line to go up 3-0. Now two breaks down, Beck’s confidence was slipping away and was unable to win a point on Williams' serve, who now was leading 4-0.
From the first set, Williams had started to play more aggressive and it was paying off as she had Beck running all around the court to eventually finish the points at the net. However, Beck still gave a glimpse of brilliance as she took control of one point, and now it was her who had the world number one running to eventually hit a drop shot that forced Williams to run from behind the baseline. Still, that point was not much help as the American won the next two points to break for the third time and go up 5-0. Williams hit an ace to give herself a match point and then hit another great serve that forced Beck to hit a return that stayed on the net.
Next for Serena Williams
In the fourth round, Serena Williams will face a tough opponent in Svetlana Kuznetsova. They have faced each other on 12 occasions and it’s the American who leads their head-to-head 9-3. Their last meeting was this year at Rome where Williams prevailed in straight sets, however, the Russian also beat Williams this year at Miami in which Kuznetsova won in three tough sets. This will be their first meeting on grass.