Serena Williams breezes by Annika Beck to reach 4th round at Wimbledon
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga edges John Isner in marathon match
Serena Williams hit a milestone with her victory Sunday at Wimbledon without even knowing it.
The defending champion and six-time tournament winner overwhelmed Annika Beck 6-3, 6-0 in just 51 minutes on Centre Court on Sunday, advancing to the fourth round with her 300th career Grand Slam match win.
Williams, who compiled a 25-2 edge in winners, said she "had no idea" she hit the plateau until she was asked about it in a post-match interview.
"Every time I step out on the court, if I don't win, it's major national news," she said. "But if I do win, it's just like a small tag in the corner."
For only the fourth time in Wimbledon's 139-year history, play was scheduled on the middle Sunday, which is the traditional rest day, because of rain delays in the first week that caused a backlog of matches.
"Obviously, I love having that Sunday off, but I'm a little behind in my matches, so I guess I had to play an extra day," Williams said.
Williams will next face No. 13 Svetlana Kuznetsova, who came from behind to beat No. 22 Sloane Stephens 6-7 (1), 6-2, 8-6 to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time since 2008.
Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam champion, has reached the quarter-finals three times at Wimbledon, but the last time was back in 2007.
Frenchmen set to battle
While Williams played just 15 games in under an hour, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and John Isner needed 44 games and two hours, 33 minutes to complete the final two sets of their suspended third-round match. The final set featured 36 games and lasted more than two hours.
"It's good to be alive," said Tsonga, who saved a match point at 16-15 in the fifth before overcoming the American 6-7 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 19-17.
Isner led two sets to one when play suspended because of darkness on Saturday. The match lasted a total of 4 hours, 24 minutes on Court 2.
It was Tsonga's 103rd match win in a Grand Slam, putting him in a tie with Jean Borotra at the top of the list of French players with the most victories in majors.
Another Frenchman, No. 32 Lucas Pouille, ended the Grand Slam comeback of Juan Martin del Potro, beating the Argentine 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 7-5, 6-1. The 22-year-old Pouille had never won a tour-level match on grass until this tournament. Del Potro was making his first appearance at Wimbledon since 2013 after a series of surgeries on his left wrist.
Nick Kyrgios, an Australian seeded No. 15, set up a marquee fourth-round matchup against No. 2 Andy Murray by defeating Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4.
Vandeweghe presses on
CoCo Vandeweghe beat No. 7 Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3, 6-4 in the first match on Centre Court. The 27th-seeded American advanced to the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2015 before losing to Maria Sharapova in three sets.
"Roberta's a really tough opponent," Vandeweghe said. "She has a lot of craftiness to her game that you don't see too much. She makes you beat her. So that's what I tried to do; stay focused and keep pressing."
Vandeweghe's fourth-round opponent will be 23rd-seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, who downed No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2.
"I've been doing a good job of rising to the occasion," Vandeweghe said.
Pospisil, Sock advance
Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil and American partner Jack Sock beat French duo Quentin Halys and Tristan Lamasine 7-6. 6-7. 6-4 on Sunday in the men's doubles tournament at Wimbledon.
They will play Australia's Lleyton Hewitt and Jordan Thompson in the next round.
Pospisil and Sock won the Wimbledon doubles tournament two years ago.
With files from The Canadian Press