LONDON (AP) — Serena Williams ran her Wimbledon winning streak to 17 matches and moved into the fourth round with a 7-5, 7-6 (2) victory over 62nd-ranked Kristina Mladenovic of France, thanks in part to 13 aces.
Seven of Williams’ 23 Grand Slam singles titles have come at the All England Club, including the last two times she played in the grass-court tournament, in 2015 and 2016. She sat out Wimbledon last year while pregnant.
The 36-year-old remains the last American woman in the draw and will face another mother in the fourth round Monday: 120th-ranked qualifier Evgeniya Rodina of Russia, who upset No. 10 seed Madison Keys of the U.S.
“I am really happy I had an early break in the second so I’m going to see what went wrong there,” Serena said.
“Technically I’m not a top player but I do have the wins of one.”
Serena has won 17 matches in a row at @Wimbledon dating to 2015. She’s the last American woman remaining in the draw. https://t.co/y2yo4l4zsy
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) July 6, 2018
Williams is the only past Wimbledon champion remaining in the field. Her sister, five-time champion and last year’s runner-up Venus Williams, could not pull off a third consecutive comeback, instead joining the parade of top-10 seeds on the way out of the Grand Slam tournament.
No. 9 seed Williams lost to No. 20 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-7 (5), 8-6 in the third round.
Former Wimbledon champs Petra Kvitova, Maria Sharapova and Garbine Muguruza were eliminated earlier.
In each of her first two matches this week, Williams dropped the opening set before eventually winning in three. She couldn’t quite do the same this time.
Her exit means eight of the top 10 seeded women are gone before the end of Week 1 at the All England Club.
The 38-year-old American, who was last year’s runner-up at Wimbledon, was the oldest entrant in the women’s singles field.
Seven of the Top 10 women’s seeds are now out.
Serena and Halep remain the favorites. pic.twitter.com/2z4hxPv3GP
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) July 6, 2018
