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Serena Williams to meet sister Venus, Djokovic, Sharapoova cruise into last 16

Xinhua, July 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Five-time champion and world No. 1 Serena Williams survived a Center Court thriller to set up a clash against sister Venus while defending champion Novak Djokovic and 2004 winner Maria Sharapova swept into the last 16 of the Wimbledon Championships here on Friday.

In her first career meeting with Serena Williams, Heather Watson stood at 2-6, 3-4 when she won six straight games to take a 3-0 lead in the deciding set, but the 20-time Grand Slam champion roared back to 4-3.

But the world No. 59 continued to play consistent tennis of the highest quality. She was within two points of victory, but ultimately fell under the pressure of Serena's aggression. Williams won 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in two hours and 14 minutes and will next face elder sister Venus, also a five-time Wimbledon champion.

"I honestly didn't think I was going to win," said Serena. "How I pulled through I really don't know. I was thinking I would be hanging around to watch Venus play. I couldn't keep up with her. I thought maybe it just wasn't my day. I should have won the second set and I didn't. This was a match I think I would have lost last year or the year before."

Watson said afterwards, "I was two points away so I'm pretty disappointed. Even now I just wish I could go back and play one point different to see if it would have changed things. It was a tough, tough ask. I was super, super close. That's what hurts the most."

The 35-year-old Venus Williams, ranked 16th in the world, rolled past Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic 6-3, 6-2 to book a fourth round place.

Djokovic met little trouble in a comfortable 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Australia's Bernard Tomic.

He was asked to sign his name on a prosthetic limb when he walked off the court and the Serb signed it and later said, "I hope I gave him some luck and he's going to feel better."

"I think overall I played a really, really good match," he said.

Djokovic now faces big server Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the fourth round.

Fourth seed Sharapova eased past Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4, 6-3 and will take on unseeded Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan for a quarterfinal berth.

Australia's Nick Kyrgios, who shocked Rafael Nadal in 2014 as a 144-ranked underdog, took a sweet revenge to his defeat here last year against Canadian Milos Raonic, winning 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

The 20-year-old, seeded 26th now, will next meet Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who defeated 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Newly-crowned French Open champion Stan Wawrinka entered the fourth round with a 6-4,6-3, 6-4 victory over Fernando Verdasco of Spain. The Swiss fourth seed will take on Belgium's David Goffin in the quarter-finals. Enditem