Wimbledon, England – Serena Williams again went the distance, but again came out victorious with a hard-fought, fourth-round victory over Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova at Wimbledon.
Williams had to rally from a set down to beat China's Zheng Jie in the third round on Saturday, prevailing 9-7 in the decisive set, and went deep into the third set Monday to dispose of Shvedova, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 triumph.
The four-time Wimbledon champion breezed through the first set on a cold and rainy Monday in 26 minutes, but Shvedova, who played a "golden set" by winning every point in the first set of her third-round win over French Open runner-up Sara Errani on Saturday, had an answer with a dominant second set in 34 minutes.
As rain picked up and other courts stopped play, Court No. 2 remained active and the third set remained on serve until late.
Williams picked up three break points in the ninth game, only to watch Shvedova save all three and hold. In the 11th game, Williams again earned a pair of break points and needed only one to convert when Shvedova's backhand went wide.
Shvedova, though, fought through the next game and thought she'd hit a winner on a brilliant angle that would have given her a break point. Williams, though, ran it down and lifted a perfect lob to instead set up a match point, which she quickly converted by drilling a backhand that went unreturned.
Williams will next face the winner between defending champion Petra Kvitova and former French Open champ Francesca Schiavone.
The first woman to advance to the quarterfinals was Austria's Tamira Paszek, who rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italy's Roberta Vinci. Paszek, a quarterfinalist last year at the All England Club, will next meet the winner between second-seeded Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.