Serena Williams looks strong and confident, and it showed in her dominating performance today in the second round at Wimbledon. With ease, she backhanded Melinda Czink, 6-1, 6-4.
The four-time champion Williams won 27 of 28 points on her first serve, including 10 aces, and never faced a break point. Czink twice whiffed on returns.
“I love my serve,” Williams said, “and I love feeling good when I serve.”
The sixth-seeded Williams could meet No. 1-seed Maria Sharapova in the final next week. Sharapova overcame troubles with her serve to dismiss Tsvetana Pironkova, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-0.
While Sharapova battled an erratic serve, with eight aces and 10 double-faults. She saved five set points in the first set and led the second set 3-1 when play was halted Tuesday because of darkness. She lost the first two games when the match resumed, and double-faulted on her first three service points in the tiebreaker.
“It felt like two matches in a way,” Sharapova said. “Today I wanted to start off really well because I knew I was up a break. Didn’t go according to plan. Really served sloppy.”