It may not have been the most eye-catching of matches, but that won’t matter for Serena Williams. The American is comfortably through to the quarter-finals of these Championships, after beating Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 6-2 in one hour and three minutes, as her pursuit of an eighth Wimbledon title continues.
Having won all six of their previous meetings, Williams made sure to preserve that 100 per cent record with a performance that improved with each passing game.
After a sluggish start from the two women, the world No 10 soon found her form to force her opponent into submission.
Having broken the world No 31 in the opening game, Williams was poised in the seventh game, with the set at 4-2, to pull further ahead. A volleyed smash looked to have clinched her a second break but the umpire judged that the American – who, like many on Court One, was seemingly unaware of the rule – had encroached over the net with her swinging right arm.
Nonetheless, Williams kept her cool throughout the rest of the game, as it swung between deuce and advantage Suarez Navarro, before the Spaniard netted on the second break point.
At 5-2, the 37-year-old saved two break points to serve out the first set and seize control of this tie.
Suarez Navarro’s resistance was conspicuous in its absence as she once again threw away her serve in the opening game of the second set, the American proving too ruthless with her thumping backhand winners.
The Spaniard rallied, breaking Williams to love at 3-0, before subsequently holding to take the set to 3-2.
But there was to be no stopping the American. Suarez Navarro was later broken for a fourth time after Williams pulled off one of the shots of the matches – a whipped, backhand winner that landed plum on the sideline – to quash any hope of a Spanish fightback.
From there, she served out for victory and now faces the USA's Alison Riske in the last eight.
