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Jumat, 18 Juli 2008

Serena through to face Mauresmo


Wimbledon: Monday 23 June to Sunday 6 July
Coverage:
BBC TV, BBCi, Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sport website.


Serena Williams
Serena reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon last year

Serena Williams cruised into the third round of Wimbledon despite not being at her best against Urszula Radwanska.

The 2002 and 2003, was still too strong for the Polish 17-year-old, winning 6-4 6-4 to set up a clash with France's 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo.

Sixth seed Williams admitted that she was happy not to add to Court Two's "graveyard of champions" reputation.

"I felt I played OK. I was a little tight out there and just didn't want to go out on Court Two," she said.

"I never really think about that playing on Court Two but that did kind of cross my mind. It was windy and the conditions weren't great.

"I felt like I should just get it over with."

The first set was one-way traffic initially as Williams broke in the third game and again in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead.

Radwanska, ranked 190th in the world and playing in her first Grand Slam, gradually got into the game - hitting back with a break - but Serena was still able serve out for the set.

Serena claimed an early break in the second set and, although Radwanska broke back, the American sixth seed broke one more time to seal the win.

She will now take on Mauresmo in the next round after the French 2006 Wimbledon champion battled back from a set down to beat Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual 4-6 6-1 6-1.

Mauresmo has played Serena twice before at Wimbledon, losing both of their semi-final matches in 2002 and 2004.

606: DEBATE

"I haven't played her in a while. I look forward to it. I had no idea I might play her. I'm excited about that," added Serena.

"She's been struggling a lot this year. So you can only hope that she does well, especially being a past champion here. It will be a good match."

Fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova took little over an hour to dispose of Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2 6-3.

The 22-year-old Russian, who struggled in her first-round match against Mathilde Johansson, never looked back after claiming two early breaks in each set.

"I think I did everything to have it easier," said the 2004 US Open champion, who has reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals three times.

"I played much better, and I was just playing a little bit more like you should play on grass, not on clay court. For me it's difficult to adjust.

"I was really happy with everything except my serve. I could not get my serve in as much as I would like to.

"I was maybe wanting to do too much with this, and I wanted to go more forward, which I think I did pretty well."

Last year's surprise finalist Marion Bartoli defeated Tatiana Perebiynis 6-2 7-5 in their second-round match.

Russian eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze had little trouble in advancing, beating Romania's Edina Gallovits 6-4 6-2.

Czech Republic's 18th seed Nicole Vaidisova survived a major second-set blip to overcome Australian Samantha Stosur 6-2 0-6 6-4.

Italian 20th seed Francesca Schiavone crashed out, losing her match with Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues 3-6 7-5 9-7.

In the first round, Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva progressed with a 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 win over Maria Elena Camerin of Italy.

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