Venus Williams looked as though she was hurtling towards defeat against a Japanese skiing fan yesterday before fighting back to set up a fourth-round Wimbledon tie against another former champion Maria Sharapova.

Williams was one game away from tumbling out but, as rain began to fall again, she outsmarted Akiko Morigami 6-2 3-6 7-5.

While Williams's two-hour five-minute tussle with Morigami justified Wimbledon's decision to award women equal prize money for the first time this year, Justine Henin has done little to silence the critics.

The world No 1 made the most of a short dry spell yesterday to reach the quarterfinals with a 6-2 6-2 destruction of Patty Schnyder.

Venus Williams of the US plays a return during her singles match against Japan's Akiko Morigami at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London yesterday. Reuters
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The Belgian, who completed a hat-trick of French Open titles last month, has dropped only 15 games during her stroll into the last eight.

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

Things could get significantly trickier in the next round if she runs into Serena Williams, provided the seventh seed manages to dispatch Daniela Hantuchova.

Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, No 6 Ana Ivanovic, Nicole Vaidisova and Nadia Petrova needed to win only a handful of games yesterday to complete their progress into the fourth round.

Russian 12th seed Elena Dementieva, however, was upstaged by a 16-year-old Austrian. Tamira Paszek, the youngest player left in the draw, underlined her growing reputation on the circuit to thwart 25-year-old Dementieva 3-6 6-2 6-3.

"The strawberries with cream, playing all in white, the grass courts, covering, uncovering the courts, rain delays, rain delays - just everything is so special," the teen said.

Venus Williams was two breaks down in the second set when torrential downpours over southwest London halted play on Saturday.

On resumption her fortunes dipped further when she lost the set after being broken again.

Morigami, the last Asian left in the field, seemed to have won the psychological battle when she came from 0-40 down to hold her serve for 3-2 and was gifted a break three games later thanks to a Williams double fault.

But the three-times former champion clung on to deny Morigami a famous victory and made no secret of what the win meant to her, jumping up and down to celebrate her great escape.

"If Venus moves up to the ball and takes it off the bounce instead of waiting behind the baseline, she'll be the only one here, including Sharapova,"said Williams' father and coach, Richard.

Venus saw the match as a positive.

"When it was time, I did what it took. I definitely would like to do what it takes earlier," she said. "But I think on the other hand, that kind of competition is invaluable in this kind of tournament. So either way it's good for me."

Seventh seed Tomas Berdych ended Asian interest in the men's competition when he squeezed past South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik 6-4 7-6 7-6 to reach the last 16.

It was the only men's match to be completed so far on day seven of the grasscourt grand slam before rain once again interrupted play.

(China Daily via Agencies July 3, 2007)