LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 30: Serena Williams of the USA reacts during her Ladies' Singles third round match against Jie Zheng of China on day six of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon on June 30, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Cli
Serena Williams claimed a 6-7, 6-2, 9-7 win over Jie Zheng on Centre Court on Saturday to keep her Wimbledon 2012 title hopes alive.
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Serena Williams survived a scare at Wimbledon on Saturday, coming through an epic three set match with China's Jie Zheng on Centre Court after a 16 game final set. The American eventually came through 6-7, 6-2, 9-7 but there were several nervous moments along the way.
The sixth seed lost the first set in a tie-break but came out in blistering form in the second set, taking that 6-2 and it was assumed that there would be more of the same from Serena in the decider. Zheng did not, however, lie down and she made the five times Wimbledon champion did deep to eventually win a gruelling final set 9-7.
Serena is still the 7/2 second favourite at Boylesports to win Wimbledon 2012 but she will have to be a lot better if she is to beat the impressive Yaroslava Shevedova in the fourth round. The Kazakh wild card blew French Open finalist Sara Errani off the court in her third round match, beating the Italian 6-0, 6-4.
Elsewhere in the women's singles there were wins for Francesca Schiavone, who beat Klara Zakopalova 6-0, 6-4 and Victoria Azarenka, who was comfortable when winning 6-3, 6-3 against qualifier Jana Cepelova. Defending champion Petra Kvitova also looked good when beating Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-0.
