Serena survives Watson scare; Djokovic wins

Bady boy Kyrgios knocks out Raonic

Serena Williams set up a titanic Wimbledon fourth round showdown with sister Venus as the world number one staged a dramatic final set fightback to beat Britain's Heather Watson 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 on Friday.

Williams, bidding for a sixth Wimbledon title and a calendar Grand Slam, was on the brink of a humiliating third round exit when Watson served for the match at 5-4 in the final set.

But Serena, who had trailed 3-0 in the decider, showed why she has won 20 Grand Slam titles as she broke back before finally sealing an epic escape in two hours and 14 minutes in front of an enthralled Centre Court.

The 33-year-old American will face Venus on Monday for the first time in a Grand Slam since beating her in the 2009 Wimbledon final.  

The sisters' last meeting came in 2014 when Venus won in Montreal, but Serena holds a 14-11 advantage over the 35-year-old in their career head to head.

Earlier, Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova imposed brutal authority on their battered opponents a day after Rafa Nadal's exit at the hands of maverick journeyman Dustin Brown.

Any danger that Brown's victory would spark an uprising was swiftly quashed as Djokovic turned executioner to dispatch a beleaguered Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 and Sharapova polished off Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.

Neither of the defeated duo gave even a hint that they could match up to the dread-locked Brown's all-action heroics which sent ripples through the All England Club's hallowed grounds less than 24 hours earlier.

Djokovic has yet to drop a set and has barely broken sweat in reaching the last 16, and at times in his victory over Tomic, his gymnastic defence was at its jaw-dropping and ligament-stretching best.

When the Serb is scrambling from left to right on the baseline and retrieving everything that comes back onto his side of the net, you half expect his battered opponent to throw in the towel.

To Tomic's credit, he scrapped and battled to the bitter end but the 27th seed looked a relieved man to escape from a sun-baked Centre Court when Djokovic, chasing a third Wimbledon title, smacked down his 15th ace to close out the match.

It was a similarly one-sided story on Court One where Sharapova eased past Begu 6-4, 6-3. Barring a brief wobble in the second set when the Russian was broken serving for the match at 5-1, it was a straightforward day at the office for Sharapova, who knows what it takes to lift the trophy having claimed the title in 2004.

"There is only one champion in the end and the one who raises their game is the champion," she said.

Early birds at Wimbledon would have sighted some of the sport's most picture-perfect backhands under the mastery of their proponents Stan Wawrinka, Richard Gasquet and Grigor Dimitrov.

French Open champion Wawrinka has made a habit of scything through the early undergrowth of grand slams almost unnoticed and continued his seamless progress with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Fernando Verdasco in the opening match on Court One.

At the same time on Centre, Gasquet and Dimitrov squared up in a true battle of sublime backhands with Frenchman Gasquet finding his range to send the misfiring Bulgarian packing 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

There were predictable fireworks as Nick Kyrgios moved into the next round, beating Milos Raonic 5-7 7-5 7-6 6-3 while arguing with a member of the crowd and falling foul of Wimbledon's dress code.

The Australian hot head had a minor altercation with a woman who thought he was telling him to 'pull your head in' and was told to turn around his headband.

Bopanna through

India’s Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea battled past Thomas Bellucci and Guillermo Duran in straight sets to progress to the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s doubles event on Friday.

In a closely fought second round contest, the ninth seeded Indo-Romanian pair prevailed 7-5, 7-6(5), 7-6 (5).

In mixed doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi and Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva lost to American pair of Nicholas Monroe and Madison Brengle 7-5, 3-6, 2-6.

Results: 

Round 3: Men’s singles: Denis Kudla (US) bt Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) 6-2 6-7(3) 2-6 6-1 6-3;  1-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt 27-Bernard Tomic (Aus) 6-3, 6-3, 6-3; 14-Kevin Anderson (Rsa) bt 24-Leonardo Mayer (Arg) 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-3; 26-Nick Kyrgios (Aus) bt 7-Milos Raonic (Can) 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-3; 4-Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) bt Fernando Verdasco (Esp) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; 21-Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt 11-Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 16-David Goffin (Bel) bt Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Womens singles: 1-Serena Williams (US) beat Heather Watson (Britain) 6-2 4-6 7-5; 16-Venus Williams (US) bt Aleksandra Krunic (Srb) 6-3 6-2; Zarina Diyas (Kaz) beat 14-Andrea Petkovic (Ger) 7-5 6-4; 23-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) bt Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) 6-4 6-4; 6-Lucie Safarova (Cze) bt Sloane Stephens (US) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1; 4-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt 29-Irina Begu (Rom) 6-4, 6-3; 30-Belinda Bencic (Sui) bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands (US) 7-5, 7-5; CoCo Vandeweghe (US) bt 22-Samantha Stosur (Aus) 6-2, 6-0.