Wimbledon Championships
Venue: All England Club, London Date: 21 June - 4 July
Coverage: Live on BBC One and Two, HD, Red Button, BBC Sport website (UK only), Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra; live text commentary online and on mobile phones; watch again on BBC iPlayer
Full details of BBC coverage
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By David Ornstein
BBC Sport at Wimbledon |
Defending champion Serena Williams came through her first genuine test to see off a resurgent Maria Sharapova and reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.
The American top seed beat her Russian opponent 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 to set up a last-eight meeting with China's Li Na.
Sharapova, who overcame Williams in the 2004 final, bounced back from an early break of serve but squandered three set points in the first set tie-break.
Williams then broke once in the second before serving out for a 96-minute win.
"She played really well and is really doing good," the world number one, who remains on course to meet sister Venus in the final, told BBC Sport.
"I don't know how I pull myself out of situations like that tie-break - I was just able to relax. The crowd was great and I was really happy they were rooting really hard for me."
Williams said before the match that she was not entirely happy with her current form but, on this evidence, she has little cause for concern as she continues her bid for a 13th Grand Slam title.
While ninth seed Li is sure to pose a threat following her 6-3 6-2 win against seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska, Williams has won four of their previous five meetings.
And if she can reproduce the performance level that got her past Sharapova, a semi-final berth should beckon.
"She served extremely well, the best she's ever served against me, and that was the difference," Sharapova said of Williams, who sent down 19 aces and won 84% of points on her first serve.
"I had a few looks at her serve but when they're coming out at 120mph it's pretty hard to do anything about it. She wins the majority of matches by serving well so you've got to win your own service games to stand any chance.
"I did that today but not well enough. I played really well and had my chances in the first set. I felt really good and gave her a run for her money.
"I'm in a much better place than I was last year, playing well and feeling great."
Williams and Sharapova were meeting at Wimbledon for the first time since the 2004 final, when the Russian triumphed as a 17-year-old to become the second-youngest SW19 champion in the Open Era.
It was an eagerly anticipated encounter and although the pair arrived to a sparsely-populated Centre Court, the crowd having filtered out after Roger Federer's victory over Jurgen Melzer, there was soon not a seat a seat to be had.
And it was easy to see why as Williams opened with a flurry of aces and Sharapova responded by offering a commanding service hold of her own in game two.
It was the first time in this year's tournament that Williams had conceded a game in the opening set and she responded with another three aces before cranking up the pressure on her opponent's serve.
Sharapova went long and then netted to fall 0-40 down in game four, and Williams wasted no time in wrapping up the break with a crunching forehand return.
But the three-time Grand Slam champion was in no mood to be rolled over and hit straight back when Williams dumped one backhand into the net and then fired another beyond the baseline.
For long periods this was not one for the purists, with no quarter asked or given by either woman, but they played out a gripping tie-break and Sharapova will be left to rue her missed opportunities.
After hitting back from an early mini-break and then coming up with a stinging forehand winner to move 5-3 ahead, Williams netted a backhand to bring up 6-4 and two set points.
Two wayward forehands put paid to Sharapova's hopes on that occasion and she wasted a third opportunity at 8-7, going into the tramlines with a forehand return.
A double-fault at 9-9 gave Williams her first opening and the 28-year-old showed all her experience to seal the set with a thumping ace.
There was, again, precious little to chose between the players in the second but Sharapova, 23, seemed to lose her concentration in game three and was duly punished.
Another double-fault and netted forehand saw Williams break to 15 and she never looked back, reeling of unstoppable deliveries and winner before taking the second of three break point when Sharpova put a backhand wide.
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