Williams, Hewitt keep Olympic dreams alive
Veterans Venus Williams and Lleyton Hewitt have wound back the clock to keep their respective Olympic dreams alive with the two over-30s producing some of the sterling form which has carried both to No.1 in the world and multiple Grand Slam titles.
While both are unseeded and at the tail-end of their careers, they boast an impressive resume – 71 titles between them, including nine majors – and both rise to the occasion when representing their countries.
The two former Wimbledon Champions posted emphatic second-round Olympic victories on Tuesday.
Williams, 32, was first up on Centre Court and needed just over an hour to thunder past Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-1, 6-3.
The American’s only glitch came when serving for the match at 5-1. She dropped serve but would close it out two games later to land a third-round shot at German seventh seed Angelique Kerber.
The win was highlighted by a whopping 32 winners from the Williams racket, to just seven from her opponent’s.
Out on No.2 Court, Australia’s last man standing kept the flag flying with a 6-4, 7-5 upset of 16th-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic in an hour and 36 minutes.
Before a vocal green and gold support base, the 31-year-old hit seven less winners than his opponent’s 26, but crucially kept his unforced error count to almost half and never faced a break point.
Hewitt will face men’s second seed Novak Djokovic for a place in his first Olympic quarter-final.
The London 2012 Olympic tennis is taking place at Wimbledon. Visit the ITF Olympics site for full scores, draws and the London 2012 site for video content, venue and schedule information.
