By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Serena Williams whipped 12 aces scoring her 23rd straight Grand Slam victory to reach the Wimbledon third round.
Photo credit: CameraSport/Stephen White
The heat was on, but Serena Williams was hardly sweating it.
Temperatures had soared to a Wimbledon-record 96 degrees by the time the world No. 1 took Centre Court for her second-round match. Timea Babos blistered a 119 mph serve in the opening game that would have been a statement against most women in the field.
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In the unlikely event anyone needed a reminder, Serena Williams isn't most players.
Turning her hips and shoulders, Williams whipped a return right back at her opponent's feet then plastered an inside-out forehand for break point.
Babos brought her biggest shots from the start only to see Williams obliterate crackling answers.
Dominating off both serve and return, Williams slammed 12 aces and broke four times blasting by Babos, 6-4, 6-1, to roar into the Wimbledon third round and extend her Grand Slam winning streak to 23 matches.
Shortly after Serena's victory, older sister Venus Williams fought off a feisty Yulia Putintseva, 7-6 (5), 6-4, to advance to the third round and move closer to a potential fourth-round showdown with Serena.
The Williams sisters withdrew from the doubles draw yesterday. Both looked determined to stick around in singles today.
"It's challenging to play both events. We just needed to try our best to stay in the singles draw," Venus told ESPN's Tom Rinaldi after her singles triumph today.
The 16th-seeded Venus fought off seven of eight break points against the vertically-challenged, but quick-footed Putintseva. The world No. 95 battled back to level the tie break at 4-4 with a rousing forehand pass. Williams slid a 119 mph ace for 5-4 and three points later she twisted a serve into the hip to end a hard-fought, 69-minute first set. Venus closed a tight struggle with two of her biggest serves of the day, setting up a third-round encounter with Aleksandra Krunic.
You may recall Krunic's 2014 U.S. Open run when the then 145th-ranked qualifier defeated Madison Keys before sweeping two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the third round.
Top-seeded Serena, who dropped the first set four times en route to her 20th Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, looked determined to get off to a fast start today. She broke to open both the first and second sets.
Even when Babos threatened, as she did gaining double break point in the fourth game of the second set, Williams delivered a declarative response. She unleashed three consecutive aces to deny the break points and maintain command.
A 2014 Wimbledon doubles finalist, Babos tried to play first-strike tennis from the first point. The good news for Babos: She can thump her first serve in the 120 mph range and isn't shy about unloading it. The bad news for Babos: She was serving to the world's most dangerous returner who grew up facing older sister Venus' missiles and found the groove to her return game qiuckly.
Williams broke for 1-0. She backed up the break with a two-ace game. Serving for the set at 30-all, Williams withstood a tense patch, slamming down successive unreturnable serves in snatching the first set with a clenched fist and a "come on!"
Empowered by closing the first set, Serena opened it up in the second. Driving the ball deeper, she broke to open the second set and threw down a quick hold for a 2-0 advantage.
Staring down double break point in the fourth game, Williams zapped three aces in a row to hammer her way out of a tight spot for a 3-1 advantage.
The five-time Wimbledon champion permitted just five points on her first serve to set up a third-round meeting with Heather Watson, the lone British woman still standing. Watson backed up her opening-round win over 32nd-seeded Caroline Garcia defeating Daniela Hanutchova, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the third round for the second time.