World No. 1 Serena Williams rallied to reach the third round at Wimbledon on Friday, taking out her early frustration by tossing a racket that skidded into the lap of a cameraman.
The 34-year-old top seed beat fellow American Christina McHale 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4 after serving an ace to win the match, showing several fist pumps to the crowd on Centre Court.
Meanwhile, No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic was in trouble after losing the first two sets to big-serving American Sam Querrey when rain stopped play for the day.
The 6-foot-6 Querrey, seeded No. 28, led the 29-year-old Serbian 7-6 (6) 6-1 in their third-round match. Persistent rain postponed the match until Saturday.
Djokovic, a three-time champion at Wimbledon including the last two years, has the third-longest Grand Slam match streak in the history of men’s tennis. The longest winning streak at majors for a man is 37 matches, set by Don Budge from 1937-38, followed by Rod Laver with 31 and Djokovic with 30.
Djokovic holds all four Grand Slam crowns at the same time and is attempting to join Budge as the second player in tennis history to win five straight majors. Budge won six successive titles between 1937 Wimbledon and the 1938 U.S. Championships.
Djokovic also is looking to complete a calendar Grand Slam, already having won the Australian and French Open in 2016. He is bidding for a 13th major championship overall.
Because of the rain this week, the All England Club announced that matches will be played on Wimbledon’s middle Sunday for only the fourth time in the tournament’s 139-year history. Friday was the third day of significant rain delays.
Williams, the defending champion, lost her opening set in the second round and clearly wasn’t pleased as she had 16 unforced errors.
Williams held at set point while leading 5-4 but McHale then served a shot that was initially ruled out before being reversed after a video challenge. Williams lost the point when it was replayed.
After losing the set, Williams returned to her chair and slammed her racket against the ground several times before tossing it backward on the slick grass where it landed in the lap of a cameraman positioned in the photo pit.
“I was just really, really, really angry,” Williams said after the match. “I had a lot of chances. She got really lucky on some shots. She just was playing great. I was a little disappointed in myself at that point.”
Williams hit 40 unforced errors over the course of three sets, with 54 winners and 14 aces.
On Saturday, Williams will face Germany’s Annika Beck, who beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-2, 6-1.
Williams, a six-time Wimbledon champion, won the first three Grand Slams of 2015 but she has failed in her last three attempts to match Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 major titles.
Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, Serena’s older sister, made it through the rain and into the fourth round by overcoming 29th-seeded Darya Kasatkina of Russia 7-5, 4-6, 10-8.
Venus Williams’ match on No. 1 Court was delayed four times by rain, including once with Williams holding a match point at 7-6 in the third set. When play resumed, Kasatkina saved the match point and held to 7-7.
Four games later, the eighth-seeded Williams broke to end the match, with Kasatkina hitting a forehand into the net on the final point.
On the men’s side, third-seeded Roger Federer eliminated another British player, beating Daniel Evans 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the fourth round.
Playing under the roof on Centre Court, the Swiss won his 305th singles match at a Grand Slam tournament, only one behind the record set by Martina Navratilova.
Federer, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, beat another British player, qualifier Marcus Willis, in the second round.
No. 2 Andy Murray is the last British player in the men’s field once again.
“He’s far away in the draw so I won’t be playing him for a while,” the 34-year-old Federer told the BBC afterwards. “It’s been fun playing against Marcus and Dan. “They’re both talented players and I wish them well for the future. I didn’t do the draw, someone else did. But it’s always a pleasure playing local guys in the draw.”
Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina knocked out No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3 to reach the third round.
American John Isner, seeded 18th, beat Australian qualifier Matthew Barton 7-6 (8) 7-6 (3) 7-6 (8). The 6-foot-10 Isner fired 43 aces.