Serena Williams produced one of the finest serving performances of her career today in a scintillating encounter on Centre Court, hitting 23 aces—the most ever recorded in a women’s match at Wimbledon—to beat Zheng Jie, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 9-7.
Williams may have broken the previous ace record (which she held, 20 aces against Elena Dementieva in the 2009 semifinals) but she was still pushed every inch of the way by Zheng, who makes up for her lack of raw power with clever serve placement and unbelievable timing off the ground. Zheng lost to Williams in the 2008 semifinals, but in windy conditions her compact groundstrokes and commitment to taking the ball almost suicidally early saw her earn three break points on Serena's serve at 1-1 in the first set. Williams saved all three, but couldn’t get near her opponent’s serve as Zheng dropped, by my count, just four points in six service games. A backhand long by Williams, whose groundstrokes were erratic throughout, on the first point of the tiebreaker gave Zheng a slim advantage, and she hung on to it tooth and nail to take the first set.
Two more backhand errors gave Zheng an immediate opportunity at 0-30 as Williams served to open the second set, but Serena’s ninth ace got her out of danger. With Williams clearly not trusting herself in long rallies and looking to make winning returns, Zheng found herself rocked back on to heels and haunches after her first serve early in the match, but had adjusted quickly with lightning-fast footwork to be ready for the second ball reply. Williams’ huge cuts at the serve were generally going out, however at 2-2, a double-fault gave Serena a small opportunity, and she nailed a backhand winner up the line and a solid return for two break points. Zheng put a forehand into the net and Williams raced to a double-break lead, serving out the second set.
Having spent most of the second set hitting behind the baseline and off the back foot, Zheng regrouped and returned to her aggressive game plan in the third, earning three break points at 1-2. Williams fought them all off and started to dig deeper, forcing herself to play more patiently and construct points. With Zheng having to press so much on every shot to keep from being overpowered, one expected the Chinese woman to capitulate, but as the third set went on, Zheng’s hummingbird footwork kept getting her in the right position to absorb and redirect Williams’ power.
Still over-hitting on returns, Williams had to hold serve three times to stay in the tournament, a huge test for the woman whose nerves saw her exit the French Open in the first round. All three times, Williams rose to the challenge and held at love. With Zheng serving at 7-7, 40-15, Williams hit two of her best returns of the match for deuce, then broke after another deep return got a mishit from Zheng. Serving for the match, Williams tightened up, opening with a double fault, then had to watch Zheng erase two match points with excellent backhands. On her third match point, Williams threw caution to the winds and came to net behind a second serve, sealing a remarkable victory with a backhand volley for one of the most dogged victories she has ever recorded at Wimbledon.