Serena Williams had to dig deep to keep her campaign on track.
Serena Williams composed herself after a first-set loss and a burst of anger to vanquish tenacious fellow American Christina McHale 6-7(7) 6-2 6-4 in a nail-biting second-round match at Wimbledon on Friday.
The defending champion finally ran out a winner against the world number 65, marching on in her quest to emulate Steffi Graf's Open era record of 22 grand slam singles titles.
Williams thought she had won the first set and was walking back to her chair after a McHale forehand was called long with the world number one 5-4 and 40-30 up. To her chagrin, however, a Hawkeye challenge showed the ball brushing the baseline.
McHale went on to win the game and force a tiebreak in which a rattled Williams made a string of errors, including two double faults, before burying a forehand into the net to lose the set.
Furious as she sat down, she hammered her racket into the ground in frustration before hurling it behind her. But the 34-year-old put the disappointment behind her and showed the battling form that has won her six Wimbledon crowns to take the next two sets, closing out the two-and-a-half hour match with three aces.
Venus survives tough test from youthful Kasatkina
Experience wrestled aside youth at Wimbledon on Friday when Venus Williams, at 36 the oldest woman in the draw, overcame rain interruptions and Russian teenager Daria Kasatkina 7-5 4-6 10-8 to reach the fourth round.
Kasatkina, 19, demonstrated clearly how she has leapt 128 places up the rankings in the last year, saving two match points, one after a lengthy rain stoppage.
The women were forced off court with Williams on match point as the heavens opened for a third time in the match, the scoreboard showing 7-5 4-6 7-6 and 40-30 in the eighth seed's favour. Kasatkina won the next three points using a hefty serve.
"This was like something out of a movie," a beaming Williams said.
Five-times champion Williams, who suffered peaks and troughs of form throughout the two hour 41 minute match, finally downed the 29th-seeded Wimbledon debutant on her third match point with a thundering return that the Russian dumped in the net.
Kasatkina was just a few weeks old when Williams first played at Wimbledon in 1997 and it was the older woman who held her nerve to the last. "It wasn't easy to play out there today," the American said.
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 "Serena Williams")
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