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Serena battles to stunning victory

  • Story Highlights
  • Serena Williams overcomes cramp to beat Daniela Hantuchova in three sets
  • Venus Williams sets up fourth round Wimbledon date with Maria Sharapova
  • Justine Henin is first into the quarterfinals with the defeat of Patty Schynder
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LONDON, England -- Serena Williams clinched one of the most dramatic victories of her career on Monday, battling crippling cramp to beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 6-7 6-2 in the fourth round at Wimbledon.

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Serena cannot disguise her delight as she overcame crippling cramp to secure a showdown with Justine Henin.

At 5-5 in the second set the American seventh seed was screaming in agony on the baseline after her left calf muscle seized up with Hantuchova serving at 30-15.

It seemed her Wimbledon dream was going to end in pain and tears but two hours later, after rain had interrupted the match for the third time, she came out fighting like a wounded tiger to overwhelm a bemused Hantuchova.

Centre Court fans may have endured a frustrating day, but their patience was rewarded with an extraordinary display by the eight-times grand slam champion.

Only two games were possible when the match first started, then an attempted resumption got only as far as the warm-up.

When the clouds did break, Serena bullied her way through the first set with Hantuchova having no answer to her power.

To her credit the slender Slovak went 5-2 up in the second with some impressive winners but the real drama was only just starting when Serena hit back to 5-5.

At 30-15 in the next game, 2002 and 2003 champion Williams suddenly clutched her left calf muscle. She smacked it with her racket, then crumpled in a heap.

Clearly in lots of pain, she was treated on the baseline for several minutes, before being helped back to her feet. Playing virtually on one leg she went 6-5 down but amazingly held serve to set up a tiebreak. Hantuchova went 4-2 ahead when heavy rain forced the players off court.

Nearly two hours later, the players returned. Williams was still suffering and she promptly surrendered the three points Hantuchova needed to level the match.

All the signs pointed to a romp for the Slovak 10th seed but Williams is no ordinary tennis player.

She slammed her racket into the court after missing a forehand at 1-1, then, at 2-2 she argued with the chair umpire after not being allowed a toilet break.

Hantuchova was intimidated by the storm on the other side of the net and her elegant game unravelled. She dropped serve to trail 4-2 and Serena quickly moved in for the kill.

She brought up a match point with a belting drive volley and ended the contest when a bemused Hantuchova netted a backhand.

"I've never dealt with such pain. I can't believe I won really," said Serena. "I think I was definitely saved by the rain. I couldn't move before the rain."

"It was a muscle spasm in the left calf and the pain was so bad I was crying. But I would have felt weird if I hadn't tried, I would have felt bad about it.

"I didn't have much movement so it was a case of just hanging in there, hitting aces and going for it.

"In the final set, I decided that I was going to die trying. I knew that as long as my heart didn't give out, I would make it."

Serena will now face top seed and world number one Justine Henin in a blockbuster quarterfinal, after the Belgian became the first woman into the quarterfinals with a 6-2 6-2 defeat of Switzerland's Patty Schynder.

Henin won the opening set after successfully challenging a call at 5-2, 40-30 and was untroubled in the second, sealing victory in 56 minutes.

"I was a bit surprised the match was so quick," Henin told reporters. "I've done my job perfectly so far."

Meanwhile, Serena's older sister Venus, the three-times champion, survived a hair-raising match against Akiko Morigami of Japan, winning 6-2 3-6 7-5 to make a fourth round date with Maria Sharapova.

American former world number one Venus, the 23rd seed, had seemed to be cruising when she eased to a convincing first set lead in the match which started on Saturday.

But a double break by the Japanese player gave her a 4-1 lead in the second before the weather intervened and halted play until Monday.

Williams kept herself in the second set by saving six set points in the seventh game and then breaking in the next. But Morigami unleashed some accurate shots down the line finally to snatch the set.

Seemingly intent on making it difficult for herself, Williams dropped serve in the eighth game of the third, before breaking back.

In the end it was a mistake by Morigami that handed Williams the match, with the Japanese player putting her return into the net. Williams jumped up and down in celebration and, most likely, relief.

However, there was no great escape for Russian 12th seed Elena Dementieva who succumbed 3-6 6-2 6-3 against 16-year-old Austrian Tamira Paszek in another rain-interrupted third round match.

Dementieva had started her match on Saturday, when just over an hour's play was possible and only two matches being completed.

After two nights to sleep on her lead, Dementieva did not seem to wake up and allowed the young Austrian to take control from the start.

Fellow-Russian and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova had no such problems, needing just two games on Monday to seal a 6-2 6-3 victory over Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska.

Sixth seed Ana Ivanovic, runner-up at the French Open last month, also quickly wrapped up a 6-3 6-2 win over Aravane Rezai of France to book her place in the fourth round.

Eleventh seed Nadia Petrova of Russia was pushed hard in the second set of her resumed match against Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual but eventually won 6-3 7-6.

Nicole Vaidisova, the Czech 14th seed, rattled off three games after restarting her match against Belarussian Victoria Azarenka to win 6-4 6-2. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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