Two-time defending champion and top seed Serena Williams of the United States moved into the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Tuesday with a crushing 6-2, 6-1 win over French teenager Tatiana Golovin.
Williams will now face either old rival and compatriot Jennifer Capriati or Russia’s Nadia Petrova for a place in the semifinals.
It was a tough centre-court lesson for the 16-year-old Golovin.
Ranked 50th in the world, the Wimbledon debutant, racked by nerves on her first appearance on the famous show court, was simply overpowered by the American champion.
In a first set that lasted just 27 minutes, Williams allowed the French teenager just four points off her service and she could even afford the luxury of dropping her serve in the fifth game before she raced away with the next four games.
Golovin conceded the opener, losing serve for the third time, when she hit a backhand long but started well in the second by breaking Williams’s serve again.
But it was a brief respite as the champion, stunned by the insult, broke back and then held with an ace down the middle to lead 2-1.
Williams then broke to love to go 3-1, then hit three successive aces in another love service game to take complete control of the tie at 4-1 before snapping the spirit of her blonde opponent with a further break to lead 5-1.
Golovin bravely saved two match points but, on the third, she hit a wild forehand to send Serena into the last eight after just 55 minutes of action. — Sapa-AFP