WImbledon 2016: Serena Williams wins 300th grand slam match by beating Annika Beck
Sunday 3 July 2016 15:55, UK
Serena Williams was at her ruthless best in a dominant 6-3 6-0 win over Annika Beck in the third round at Wimbledon to reach 300 grand slam victories.
Williams had trouble in beating Christina McHale in her second round match but the German, who defeated Heather Watson in her opening game, proved no match for the world No 1, who excited fans able to get a Centre Court ticket on 'middle Sunday'.
She is now second on the all-time list, having moved out of a tie for that spot with Chris Evert - only Martina Navratilova stands ahead of Williams on 306.
Her only issues came in the early games with Beck breaking to take a 2-1 lead, but her unseeded opponent would win only one more game.
Williams broke straight back to level the set and, after another break in game six, served out the first set with a huge service winner timed at 123mph, the fastest serve of the women's tournament so far, and an ace.
The second set was even more one-sided as the six-time champion lost only four points on her way to victory and a fourth round clash with Svetlana Kuznetsova.
"Oh, was it? Cool. Oh, nice. I had no idea. That's awesome, right? I think that's a lot of matches. It's a lot of wins," Williams said when told of her landmark.
"I thought it was good. I still want to get out to a little bit of a faster start but I was really focused and calm. Obviously I love having that Sunday off but I'm a little behind in my matches so I guess I had to play an extra day."
Kuznetsova, seeded 13, had a much harder third round game but eventually came through a battle with 18th seed Sloane Stephens 6-7 6-2 8-6.
There was a shock for sixth seed Roberta Vinci, whose run came to an end in the third round against 27th seed CoCo Vandeweghe, the American running out a 6-3 6-4 winner.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also moved into the last-16 with a 6-3 6-2 win over 11th seed Timea Bacsinszky and she will face Vandeweghe next.
And in the final two outstanding women's third round matches Ekaterina Makarova beat 24th seed Barbora Strykova 6-4 6-2, she will play Elina Vesnina who beat American Julia Boserup 7-5 7-5.
