Venus Williams showed the spirit of a five-time champion to come from a set down to beat Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm on Centre Court.
Date-Krumm, the 40 year old and 1996 semi-finalist, took the first set after a nail-biting tie break forced by Williams fight back from 5-1 down. Williams then stole a break at the start of the second set and found her rhythm. She clinched the victory in just under three hours winning 6-7 6-3 8-6.
It was a frantic start with Date-Krumm breaking Williams in her first two service games in the first nine minutes, taking a 3-0 lead. She extended this to 5-1. However, Williams saved three set points and won five games in a row to take the set to a tie break. Date-Krumm couldn’t manage to serve out the set but took a 6-2 lead in the tie break with some fantastic return play. Williams attacked with her powerful serve and levelled up the tie break before Date-Krumm edged it to go one set up in the match.
After a breathtaking rally that involved Date-Krumm switching from right to left-hand play, Williams managed to force an error from Date-Krumm to break serve. Date-Krumm battled to claw back two break points but she couldn’t compete with Williams’ aggressive serves and conceded the second set.
Each game went with service in the third set with Date-Krumm demonstrating some excellent return play against Williams’ powerful serve. However, at 7-6 it was Date-Krumm who faltered. She lost two match points and gave the match to Williams after striking wide on a crucial backhand.
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