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LONDON - Serena Williams clinched one of the most dramatic victories of her tennis career today, battling crippling cramp to beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 6-7 6-2 in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
The American seventh seed looked down and out when she collapsed in agony on the centre court turf at 5-5 in the second set, having roared back from 2-5 down.
Crying with frustration and screaming in pain, Williams needed lengthy treatment before hobbling on to reach a tiebreak when rain came to her rescue at 2-4 down.
When play resumed nearly two hours later Hantuchova finished off the tiebreak with three successive points but Williams was not about to give up without a fight.
A bad-tempered Williams began to move more freely and with Hantuchova seemingly strangled with nerves, the 2002 and 2003 champion surged into a 5-2 lead.
She brought up a match point with a belting drive volley and ended the contest when a bemused Hantuchova netted a backhand.
Williams will meet Justine Henin in the quarter finals after the top-seeded Belgian strolled past Patty Schnyder in straight sets, winning 6-2 6-2.
Henin, bidding for the one title she needs to complete a career grand slam, needed just 56 minutes to end her Swiss opponent's weak challenge.
She did not bring her best game to the court on Tuesday, but did not need to against the normally gritty Schnyder.
"I was a bit surprised the match was so quick, I was ready to have a good fight," Henin, who has dropped just 15 games so far, told reporters. "I've done my job perfectly so far and am just going to try to keep it going."
Meanwhile, Serena's sister Venus made a comeback of her own in a hair-raising third round match against Akiko Morigami of Japan to win 6-2 3-6 7-5.
Morigami was serving for the match in the third set when Williams found an extra gear and took control of the match to set up a fourth round encounter with world number two Maria Sharapova.
"Definitely one of my strong points is I'm a tough competitor and a huge fighter," Williams told a news conference.
"In my experience, I just always feel like it should go my way. So I guess experience helps."
The American former world number one, seeded 23 here, had seemed to be cruising when she eased to a convincing first set lead in the match which started on Sunday.
But a double break by the Japanese player gave her a 4-1 lead before the weather intervened and halted play until Monday.
Williams kept herself in the second set by saving six set points in the seventh game and then breaking in the next. But Morigami unleashed some accurate shots down the line finally to snatch the set.
Seemingly intent on making it difficult for herself, Williams dropped serve in the eighth game of the third, allowing Morigami to serve for the match. But the American's resilience kicked in and she broke back.
In the end Morigami handed Williams the match when she put a return into the net.
"Winning this kind of match helps me going on in the tournament," said Williams.
She will need as much help as she can get in the next round against Sharapova, who has yet to drop a set.
The clash is a replay of the 2005 Wimbledon semi-final, which Williams won on her way to the title.
- REUTERS
