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LONDON - A timely rain break allowed a cramping and tearful Serena Williams to hobble into the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon championships yesterday after completing a dramatic comeback.
The American's Wimbledon dreams looked all over when she collapsed in agony behind the baseline at 5-5 in the second
set against Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova, but a two-hour downpour gave her a reprieve and she stormed back to win 6-2, 6-7, 6-2.
"I was going to die trying. I figured my heart wouldn't give out so I had a good chance of making it," Williams said.
On a frustrating day when only 13 of the 21 scheduled singles matches were finished because of the weather, Williams revived memories of a cramping Michael Chang's remarkable victory over Ivan Lendl at the French Open in 1989.
Williams writhed and screamed in pain and buried her face in the grass while a trainer massaged her calf muscle for more than five minutes.
The seventh seed was eventually helped back to her feet and struggling to gather her wits, she appeared to have handed the initiative to Hantuchova.
She initially stood stationary on the baseline to plop the ball back into play and went 5-6 down but incredibly held serve to stretch it into a tiebreak.
The rain came down while she was trailing 2-4 in the tiebreak. It gave her a chance to get some intensive treatment.
"I was definitely saved by the rain," she said.
On resumption, Williams lost the tiebreak 2-7 but it was not long before she showed the qualities that have earned her eight Grand Slam titles.
She smashed a racquet after missing a forehand and clashed with the umpire when he refused to allow her a toilet break.
All the drama seemed to blur Hantuchova's focus and the 10th seed surrendered by slapping a backhand into the net, leaving a relieved Williams to celebrate by blowing a kiss skywards.
The American now faces a battle to regain her fitness in time for her quarter-final against world No 1 Justine Henin.
The top seed made the most of a short dry spell yesterday to complete a 6-2, 6-2 destruction of Patty Schnyder.
Venus Williams outsmarted Akiko Morigami 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 to set up a fourth-round tie against Maria Sharapova..
Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, No 6 Ana Ivanovic, Nicole Vaidisova and Nadia Petrova needed to win only a handful of games to finish their third round matches.
Russian 12th seed Elena Dementieva, however, was upstaged 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 by 16-year-old Austrian Tamira Paszek.
French Open champion Rafael Nadal was among those still left stranded in the third round. He was 2-0 in the fifth set against Sweden's Robin Soderling.
David Nalbandian criticised the tournament's policy in having a rest day on the middle Sunday as some competitors face the prospect of playing on several days in succession.
The Argentine, however, will not be among them as he lost 6-2, 7-5, 6-0 to 10th seed Marcos Baghdatis.
Only four-time champion Roger Federer is having an easy time of it.
He is likely to have at least four days off after his fourth-round opponent Tommy Haas pulled out injured.
- REUTERS