Serena Williams narrowly avoided an upset at the hands of unseeded Heather Watson on Friday. Williams fought off an early exit after dropping the second set and falling behind in the third set, ultimately besting Watson, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
Williams had been dominant in her first two matches at this year's tournament, and had won the previous two Grand Slams already this year. She looked like she hadn't lost a step one bit and seemed poised to dominate Wimbledon. But Watson wasn't shaken by Williams' power and handled her business in the final two sets. She came up just short though, and Williams is on to the Round of 16.
Watson took an early 2-0 lead in the third set after breaking Williams to start it, and threatened a break again with a 2-0 lead. They reached deuce multiple times, with Watson eventually scoring to break Williams and go up 3-0. Things went back the other way on her next service game, however, as Williams threatened a break multiple times. Unfortunately, Watson had multiple double faults, and you can't give Williams that kind of opportunity. After six break point attempts, Williams got one through to make it 3-1.
Williams held her serve without issue, and Watson seemed to be on her way to that as well when Williams started battling back and we got to deuce once again. Williams was successful again, and broke her to get back on serve. Watson threatened a break herself, but Williams held to go up 4-3. Watson got her groove back in the following game, holding serve before breaking Williams's serve in dominant fashion to go up 5-4. Williams again fought back and scored a break to get back on serve, however. She then held serve and broke Watson to avoid the upset.
Men's top seed Novak Djokovic made short work of No. 27 seed Bernard Tomic, besting him in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. It's good that Djokovic is looking so strong, as both Roger Federer, the tournament's No. 2 seed and Andy Murray, the No. 3 seed, both made it through Thursday with no issues whatsoever. It's still a tight race at the top, though the three of them were likely glad to see No. 10 seed Rafael Nadal bounced out in the second round by Dustin Brown.
Nadal is always a threat and could have eliminated any one of these guys in the right conditions (he was set to meet Murray the earliest), but it's mostly looking like the top three guys will be battling it out for this year's title. Well, No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka might have something to say about that. Wawrinka bested Djokovic in the finals at Roland Garros, denying the World No. 1 his first title at the French Open. He also downed his third-round opponent, Fernando Verdasco, without issue on Friday, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Below, we've got results from the pertinent singles matches (updated as they finish). For full results, go to the official Wimbledon site here.
Men's Singles
No. 21 Richard Gasquet def. No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
No. 1 Novak Djokovic def. No. 27 Bernard Tomic, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 Stan Wawrinka def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
No. 26 Nick Kyrgios def. No. 7 Milos Raonic, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-3
No. 9 Marin Cilic vs. No. 17 John Isner, 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-7(4), 10-10 (to finish)
No. 16 David Goffin def. Marcos Baghdatis, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
No. 14 Kevin Anderson def. No. 24 Leonardo Mayer, 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-3
Denis Kudla def. Santiago Giraldo, 6-, 6-7(3), 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
Women's Singles
No. 1 Serena Williams def. Heather Watson, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
No. 4 Maria Sharapova def. No. 29 Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 Lucie Safarova def. Sloane Stephens, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
Zarina Diyas def. No. 14 Andrea Petkovic, 7-5, 6-4
No. 16 Venus Williams def. Aleksandra Krunic, 6-3, 6-2
Coco Vandeweghe def. No. 22 Samantha Stosur, 6-2, 6-0
No. 23 Victoria Azarenka def. Kristina Mladenovic, 6-4, 6-4
No. 30 Belinda Bencic def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 7-5, 7-5