On Monday, Venus Williams romped to a 42-minute victory over Madison Brengle without the loss of a game. Two days later against Yulia Putintseva, the first three games lasted nearly as long as the first set of her first-round win.
The difference in the level of her opponents could not have been more stark. Unlike Brengle, who wilted under Williams’ powerful onslaught, Putintseva stood tall – a remarkable achievement, given her 5ft 4in high frame – and made Venus play.
The result was an absorbing, high-quality affair lasting nearly two hours, before Williams prevailed 7-6(5), 6-4; the two women combined to produce an impressive 56 winners against 38 errors.
"I think just the first serve percentage helped me a lot today. The match was never over – didn't matter what shot I put in she seemed to have the answer," Venus said.
"It's good to have the competition and it seems she's on the rise on the tour. At the end of the day, if you win easily or you win and it's a tough match, what's important is you get through to the next round."
The British public crammed into No.2 Court for this twilight affair had already seen plenty of the American; Venus had won their Championship five times and is a legend of the sport. They would rarely have clapped eyes on the Kazakh, who had only once before contested the main draw at Wimbledon. They were impressed with what they saw.
Venus Williams
A dogged, feisty competitor with plenty of punch, very much in the mold of Dominika Cibulkova, Putintseva engaged Williams in heavy, powerful rallies, playing with great depth and absorbing the pace of Williams’ shots. Her shape and shot-making abilities on her forehand wing was especially notable – on several occasions she drew gasps from the crowd with her whip and snap on the stroke, which frequently caught the American off guard.
She used that shot to smack a return winner and snare the first break of the match and a 4-3 lead. Yet in the very next game – another struggle at deuce – Putintseva threw away a game point with a double fault and watched as the veteran broke back.
Williams saved a pair of break points in the ninth game and began to find the range on her forehand, clobbering three winners on her way to a service hold for 6-5. And in the ensuing tie-break, she was the stronger, skipping out to a 3-0 lead and surviving a Putintseva fight-back to seal the first set in 69 minutes.
It was a mammoth fight, and Putintseva suffered a somewhat understandable dip in momentum. She dropped serve in the third game, and soon Williams was ahead 3-1, a dangerous position for the Kazakh given Venus’ proven abilities as a front-runner.
One service break was all Williams needed to keep her nose in front for the remainder of the contest. Not renowned for her soft touch, she nonetheless produced an unexpected drop-shot winner en route to a hold for 5-3. Continuing to fight, Putintseva held to love in the following game and forced Williams to serve for the match, drawing mighty cheers from the crowd.
She would later save two match points in the final game with daring forehand winners, but a third proved one too many – Williams blasted a powerful first serve which Putintseva could not control and sealed her place in the third round. There she'll face Aleksandra Krunic, who upset the No.19 seed Sara Errani later on Wednesday evening.
“Every day is a blessing,” she beamed after chalking up her 75th match win at the All England Club, moving her one past seven-time champion Steffi Graf. Should she and sister Serena win their third-round matches on Friday, they will face off in a last 16 blockbuster.
What's important is that you get through to the next round
