Serena Advances at Wimbledon a Day After Injuries Revamp the Women’s Draw

Serena Williams advanced to the third round of Wimbledon on Thursday after defeating 19-year-old Caroline Garcia, 6-3, 6-2. Two of Serena’s main competitors, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, were eliminated on Wednesday. Sharapova lost to Michelle Larcher de Brtio, and Azarenka withdrew due to an injury.

"I still feel like I’m trying to adjust a lot," said Serena. "I feel like today I played a little better than my first round match. I feel like I had to play better. But I’m still adjusting."

Serena broke twice in each set. She will next face off against 42-year old Kimiko Date-Krumm. The Japanese woman became the oldest player to reach the third round of Wimbledon in the Open Era after beating Alexandra Cadantu of Romania, 6-4, 7-5. She is also the second oldest woman to have won a match at Wimbledon, after 47-year old Martina Navratilova advanced to the second round in 2004. Date-Krumm took a 12-year break from tennis before returning in 2008. The last time she advanced to the third round at Wimbledon was in 1996, when she lost in the semifinals to Steffi Graf.

After overcoming a poor second set, Li Na, the number six seed, beat Simona Halep of Romania, 6-2, 1-6, 6-0. Number 14 Samantha Stosur and number 18 Dominika Cibulkova also won their matches on Thursday, Stosur a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Olga Puchkova and Cibulkova a 6-0, 6-1 winner over Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor. Also advancing was 18-year-old American Madison Keys in her Wimbledon debut after defeating Mona Barthel of Germany, 6-4, 6-2.

Also on Thursday on the men’s side of the draw, number seven Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic defeated Daniel Brands of Germany, 7-6(8-6), 6-4, 6-2. Canadian Jesse Levine lost his match against Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro, 6-2, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. Bernard Tomic of Australia also advanced to the third round at Wimbledon by beating American James Blake, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

Eight retirements or walkovers have occurred within the second round in singles play at Wimbledon this year. This matches the 2008 record for a single round at Wimbledon in the Opera era. Nine players withdrew from the 2011 U.S. Open, setting the record for a Grand Slam tournament.