Bandages and steel send Williams onwards

To paraphrase her erudite compatriot, reports of Venus Williams' demise are appear to have been greatly exaggerated, the oldest swinger in town is still swinging and doing so with a determination that will send shivers of familiarity down the spines of her rivals. The 29-year-old eased closer to a sixth Wimbledon crown with a little help from Serbian Ana Ivanovic, a former world No 1, who was forced to retire in floods of tears minutes into the second set. That the American had taken that first set in half-an-hour for the loss of just one game will have done nothing to help Ivanovic's mental state when, in her opening service game of the second, she landed awkwardly and injured her left After ten minutes of on-court treatment, last year's French Open winner returned to the baseline where, with tears in her eyes, she served out to take a 1-0 lead. But the pretence was up, she knew it, Williams knew it and the suspicion that most men would rather be next to the pretty 21-year-old in a telephone box than fighting for their lives alongside her in a trench, was more than confirmed. No-one would ever accuse Ivanovic of too much stoicism. Despite displaying some green shoots of recovery last week, she has never recovered from the calamity of winning at Roland Garros and now ranked 12th in the world, her career seems in terrible decline. There is no argument that she has the game to arrest that downturn but a considerable amount of conjecture as to whether the requisite mental fortitude lurks underneath her polished facade. Williams, on the other hand, is the old fighter who won't retire. Hobbling into Court One with a bandage so large it must have been keeping her left leg attached, not merely protecting a dodgy knee, the early signs were that she would have to dig deep to maintain her dream of equalling Billie-Jean King's All England singles total. It was Ivanovic who came out firing. The youngster compelled the Californian to drag her aching limbs from corner to corner just to stay in the rallies and, in doing so, produced three break points. Williams obliged and, after seven exhausting minutes, managed to repel all boarders for a crucial hold - but it had been a struggle. However, while the veteran seemed to draw strength from that, belief sapped from Ivanovic and, seven minutes later, Williams was 3-0 up.. Three become four, which became four and then five as Williams grabbed control. When Ivanovic netted two routine backhands, the set had gone and it was clear that to deny fair passage the Baselbased Serb would not just have to tire the champion's limbs but actually cut them off. It was never going to happen and their respective post-match explanations offered an instructive insight into differing mindsets. When asked about her injury, Williams was non-equivocal. "I'm doing everything I can for my knee," she started. "But this is Wimbledon, so whatever, it doesn't matter how much pain I am in, I'm going to keep playing. "How much pain am I in? I am still smiling. That's the life of a Tennis player or any kind of athlete, it's tape, ice and all." For her part Ivanovic was all ifs, buts and maybes. "I felt like I was not given a fair chance to fight. It is really disappointing," she moaned. "I felt my form was getting better and better. It's so frustrating." Nevertheless, Williams is now through to her tenth quarter-final in the last 12 years and is showing the sort of defiant spirit that marks her out as a champion of champions. She faces No 11 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the last eight, against whom she has a 3-1 winning record and has not lost in three years. That nearly changed when they last met in Florida earlier this year. "In Miami, I had a day when I couldn't do anything right," Williams said. "That was a tough day. If I hit the ball cross-court, it went down the line." The score? 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to Williams.. TODAY AT WIMBLEDON (Play starts at noon on all courts except where stated) Centre Court (1:00): (1) Dinara Safina (Rus) v Sabine Lisicki (Ger), (8) Victoria Azarenka (Blr) v (2) Serena Williams (USA), (1) Bob Bryan (USA) & Mike Bryan (USA) v (5) Bruno Soares (Bra) & Kevin Ullyett (Zim) Court No 1 (1:00): (3) Venus Williams (USA) v (11) Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol), Francesca Schiavone (Ita) v (4) Elena Dementieva (Rus), (8) Lukasz Kubot (Pol) & Oliver Marach (Aut) v (2) Daniel Nestor (Can) & Nenad Zimonjic (Ser) Court 2: Donald Johnson (USA) & Jared Palmer (USA) v Mark Petchey (Gbr) & Greg Rusedski (Gbr), (9) Wesley Moodie (Rsa) & Dick Norman (Bel) v Andrei Pavel (Rom) & Horia Tecau (Rom), (11) Andre Sa (Bra) & Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) v (7) Robert Lindstedt (Swe) & Rennae Stubbs (Aus), Sally Peers (Aus) v (2) Laura Robson (Gbr) Court 3: Zina Garrison (USA) & Liz Smylie (Aus) v Martina Navratilova (USA) & Helena Sukova (Cze), (7) Max Mirnyi (Blr) & Andy Ram (Isr) v Simon Aspelin (Swe) & Paul Hanley (Aus), Igor Andreev (Rus) & Maria Kirilenko (Rus) v (16) Christopher Kas (Ger) & Chia- Jung Chuang (Tpe), (12) Stephen Huss (Aus) & Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa) v (8) Max Mirnyi (Blr) & Nadia Petrova (Rus), Annabel Croft (Gbr) & Samantha Smith (Gbr) v Gretchen Magers (USA) & Conchita Martinez (Spa) Court 4: Ilana Kloss (Rsa) & Rosalyn Nideffer (USA) v Jana Novotna (Cze) & Andrea Temesvari (Hun), Peter McNamara (Aus) & Paul McNamee (Aus) v J Nystrom (Swe) & Mats Wilander (Swe), Jeremy Bates (Gbr) & Anders Jarryd (Swe) v Peter Fleming (USA) & Guillermo Vilas (Arg), Tracy Austin (USA) & Kathy Rinaldi- Stunkel (USA) v Jo Durie (Gbr) & Hana Mandlikova (Aus) Court 5 (11:00): Arthur De Greef (Bel) v Tom Farquharson (Gbr), Sachie Ishizu (Jpn) v Yana Buchina (Rus), (3) Ana Bogdan (Rom) v Richel Hogenkamp (Ned), Veronica Cepede Royg (Par) & Grace Sari Ysidora (Ina) v Miyabi Inoue (Jpn) & Sachie Ishizu (Jpn), Isabella Holland (Aus) & Christina McHale (USA) v Vaszilisza Bulgakova (Hun) & Chantal Skamlova (Svk) Court 6 (11:00): (13) Tamaryn Hendler (Bel) v Ilinca Stoica (Rom), (1) Daniel Berta (Swe) v David Thomson (Gbr), Martina Trevisan (Ita) v Zsofia Susanyi (Hun), Sandro Ehrat (Swi) & Dominik Wirlend (Aut) v Ahmed El Menshawy (Gbr) & Tiago Fernandes (Bra), (4) Ulrikke Eikeri (Nor) & Zsofia Susanyi (Hun) v Ana Bogdan (Rom) & Malou Ejdesgaard (Den) Court 7 (11:00): Stephanie Cornish (Gbr) v (11) Silvia Njiric (Cro), Sebastian Lavie (Nzl) v Devin Britton (USA), (11) David Souto (Ven) v Jordan Cox (USA), (8) Daniel Berta (Swe) & Radim Urbanek (Cze) v Tom Farquharson (Gbr) & Stefan Sterland-Markovic (Gbr), Filip Horansky (Svk) & Jozef Kovalik (Svk) v David Thomson (Gbr) & Mathew Thompson (Gbr) Court 8 (11:00): Valeria Solovieva (Rus) v Miyabi Inoue (Jpn), (4) Agustin Velotti (Arg) v Maximilian Neuchrist (Aut), (6) Gianni Mina (Fra) v Andrey Kuznetsov (Rus), (8) Valeria Solovieva (Rus) & Maryna Zanevska (Ukr) v Stephanie Cornish (Gbr) & Hannah James (Gbr), (1) Andrea Collarini (Arg) & Agustin Velotti (Arg) v Liam Broady (Gbr) & Stanislav Poplavskyy (Ukr) Court 11 (11:00): Beatrice Capra (USA) v Tamara Curovic (Srb), Angelique Van Der Meet (Ned) v (7) Sloane Stephens (USA), (1) Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) v Sachia Vickery (USA), Lewis Burton (Gbr) & George Morgan (Gbr) v Guilherme Clezar (Bra) & Karim-Mohamed Maamoun (Egy) Court 12 (11:00): Sudarwa Sitaram (Ind) v (3) Bernard Tomic (Aus), Andrei Vasilevski (Blr) v Federico Gaio (Ita), Dino Marcan (Cro) v Stanislav Poplavskyy (Ukr), (4) Evan King (USA) & Denis Kudla (USA) v Francis Casey Alcantara (Phi) & Nikala Scholtz (Rsa), Eugenie Bouchard (Can) & Alejandra Granillo (Mex) v Jana Cepelova (Svk) & Vivien Juhaszova (Svk) Court 14 (11:00): Richard Gabb (Gbr) v (9) Dominik Schulz (Ger), Harry Fowler (USA) v Ashley Hewitt (Gbr), (10) Camila Silva (Chi) v Alexandra Walker (Gbr), Alexandros-Ferd Georgoudas (Ger) & Andrei Vasilevski (Blr) v Richard Gabb (Gbr) & Ashley Hewitt (Gbr), Lucy Brown (Gbr) & Elisha Gabb (Gbr) v Nicole Gibbs (USA) & Camila Silva (Chi) Court 15 (11:00): Lesley Kerkhove (Ned) v Ksenia Kirillova (Rus), (10) Jullien Obry (Fra) v Tiago Fernandes (Bra), (14) Chanel Simmonds (Rsa) v Quirine Lemoine (Ned), Jullien Obry (Fra) & Adrien Puget (Fra) v Alastair Barnes (Gbr) & Oliver Golding (Gbr), Nicola George (Gbr) & Jennifer Ren (Gbr) v Quirine Lemoine (Ned) & Angelique Van Der Meet (Ned) Court 17 (11:00): Carlos Boluda-Purkiss (Spa) v Jozef Kovalik (Svk), Johannes Robert Van Overbeek (USA) v (13) Cheng Peng Hsieh (Tpe), Akiko Omae (Jpn) v (15) Daria Gavrilova (Rus), Alexander Domijan (USA) v Johannes Robert Van Overbeek (USA) or Cheng Peng Hsieh (Tpe), Emi Mutaguchi (Jpn) & Akiko Omae (Jpn) v Luksika Kumkhum (Tha) & Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (Tha) Court 18: Todd Martin (USA) & David Wheaton (USA) v Todd Woodbridge (Aus) & Mark Woodforde (Aus), Mansour Bahrami (Irn) & Henri Leconte (Fra) v Ken Flach (USA) & Danie Visser (Rsa), Vijay Amritraj (Ind) & John Fitzgerald (Aus) v Kevin Curren (USA) & J Kriek (USA), (6) Magda Linette (Pol) & Heather Watson (Gbr) v Polina Leykina (Rus) & Anna Arina Marenko (Rus) Court 19 (11:00): Nastja Kolar (Slo) v (4) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (Tha), (6) Timea Babos (Hun) v Vivien Juhaszova (Svk), Filip Horansky (Svk) v (15) Tennys Sandgren (USA), Kevin Krawietz (Ger) v Hiroyasu Ehara (Jpn), Sebastian Lavie (Nzl) & Riki McLachlan (Nzl) v Tennys Sandgren (USA) & Yasutaka Uchiyama (Jpn)