Serena scorches through

Serena Williams Week two of The Championships and the Williams sisters are gathering pace as they head towards the final and, possibly, another family affair. Less than an hour after her big sister, Venus, had eased into the last eight, Serena raced in behind her, walloping Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1 in 56 minutes. With the early rounds no more than a distant memory, Serena has a new and mean look as the tournament warms up – and she looked pretty scary last week. She means business and no one, particularly not a woman she had beaten in six of seven previous meetings, was going to delay her. Williams arrived on court calmer than she had done for her previous match. More used to gracing the bigger show courts, she was caught out on Friday when she arrived late for her match on No.2 Court. This time, Williams was out sharpish to her appointed playing area and was warming up in her raincoat in good time to start proceedings. The raincoat did seem a little excessive in the heat, especially as the great British tennis watching public was going quietly puce in the sun. Hantuchova was also looking a little pale as Williams got to work. Within no time, she was 3-1 down as the former champion leant into her ground strokes and ramped up the power. The tall and slender Hantuchova can give the ball an almighty clout but it is as nothing compared to Williams with her eye on the title. Still, as Andre Agassi was always pointing out: breaking serve is the easy part – especially when, like him, you have one of the best returns in the world – it is the hold game that really matters. And, much to her annoyance, having taken the lead, Williams immediately dropped serve. It was a mistake she was not about to make twice. Hantuchova began by pumping the ball to the Williams forehand only to discover that this was not a good idea. As the ball came thundering back, and usually into places far removed from the Slovak’s reach, she was forced to think again. Switching her attention to the backhand side, it did not take Hantuchova long to realise that such a tactic was dicing with professional death. Going for broke, she tried playing to both flanks and, running Williams from tramline to tramline, she won a point or two – but that only made Williams angry. And Serena with her dander up is a terrifying sight to behold. Sure enough, the second set was wrapped up in just 26 minutes. So far Williams has dropped just 20 games on her way to the quarter-finals but she may find herself pushed harder from here on in. Next in line is Victoria Azarenka, the 19-year-old from Belarus who had Williams on the ropes for a set at the Australian Open this year until she was forced to retire with a combination of a stomach upset and heat exhaustion. Court 2 - Ladies' Singles - 4th Round Daniela Hantuchova SVK 3 1 Serena Williams USA (2) 6 6

High-five as Hantuchova hits form

Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova on Court 18 on Day 5 against Ai Sugiyama. Daniela Hantuchova overcame a shaky start to see off friend and doubles partner Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-3, celebrating the victory with a high-five handshake with her Japanese opponent. In a match that saw the ball struck beautifully by both women, Hantuchova was under pressure from the start. With two players who not only play together but have similar world rankings – Hantuchova is 32, Sugiyama 38 – a close match was expected, so Sugiyama might have felt that breaking in the opening game would be a crucial advantage. Certainly every game was closely contested and Hantuchova, who is unseeded at Wimbledon for the first time since 2004, was not afraid to mix up play, throwing in drop shots, lobs, plenty of slice and making regular forays to the net. Sugiyama, the 2003 ladies doubles champion, was content with pummelling balls cross court and drilling the lines, only charging the net on occasion. It was perhaps unfortunate that the draw had pitted these two women together. The pair will see enough of each other when they team up as 6th seeds in the doubles. But while Sugiyama led 6-4 in their single head-to-heads, it was to be Hantuchova who would close the gap today. The 26-year-old managed to break back to level the match at four games apiece, and Sugiyama began to feel the pressure, missing first serves. Within a blink of an eye, Hantuchova’s fortunes had turned and she was soon in possession of the set. An exchange of breaks followed early in the second, but the 33-year-old got broken again and the set began to slip away. When Sugiyama hit a ball long on match point, the friendly battle was all over. There was a smile of sympathy from Hantuchova and the women daintily exchanged kisses before the high- five handshake which underlined their camaraderie. Or maybe it was a reminder that this is the first of five matches the Slovak needs to win to be a Wimbledon champion. Step two comes on Monday against No.2 seed Serena Williams in the fourth round. Court 18 - Ladies' Singles - 3rd Round Daniela Hantuchova SVK 6 6 Ai Sugiyama JPN 4 3

Hantuchova too strong for Zheng

Jie Zheng Zheng Jie, who was a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, failed to repeat that impressive form against Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, losing in straight sets. Zheng, a wild card in 2008 and the 16th seed this year, was defeated 6-3, 7-5. It was a big contrast to those heady days of last summer when the Chinese woman could do little wrong at Wimbledon until the late stages and bounced on to the Beijing Olympics where she won a bronze medal. Those memories clearly meant little to Hantuchova who is unseeded at Wimbledon for the first time since 2004 and she set out to show that she deserved more from The Championships where she was included in the main draw for the ninth time. Hantuchova was late for her appointment on court and slow handclapping from the spectators welcomed her arrival. Whether that upset Hantuchova’s preparations was unclear, but she dropped her opening serve, scoring just one point, and ending with a double fault. From that fairly low grade opening, things could only get better for Hantuchova - and they did. The sixth game was an endurance test, with both players holding game points and Zheng doing well to stop a couple of game points to Hantuchova. Zheng had one game point as well but Hantuchova took that with a service return winner and broke back to 3-3. For Zheng, this was a real blow and she dropped serve again to go 5-3 behind. Hantuchova took the set with a barrage of winners after 38 minutes. The story of the second set was more close encounters but Zheng simply could not take a significant lead when it mattered in the late stages. Hantuchova, with her deliberate preparations for each point, was strong at staying in the rallies and also broke Zheng’s rhythm with drop shots or lobs. From 4-3 to Hantuchova, there were four successive breaks of serve, leaving the Slovakian to serve for the match. Zheng contemplated defeat by working even harder in the finale. She ran and ran and one backhand winner when Hantuchova was drawn out of the court was Zheng at her best. It saved a match point as well. But, on a second chance, Hantuchova’s volley winner ended the match in her favour and her wide smiles showed how she felt about it. Court 3 - Ladies' Singles - 2nd Round Jie Zheng CHN (16) 3 5 Daniela Hantuchova SVK 6 7