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Wimbledon 2011 Day 3: Date-Krumm v Williams

Despite a cheery Met Office app prediction of dryness, the day started with rain thundering off my conservatory roof! Mac on as we left for the car park and I actually packed a couple of Helly Hansen thermal running/skiing tops as it can be extremely cold in the top tiers on centre. In fact the people we sat next to yesterday said that the tickets now say that it can get extremely cold in the rooftop seats!

As we arrived it started to rain a little more heavily, so we headed for the food court and sat under cover chomping noodles; today was not going to be a day of mooching around the grounds.

We went to find the lifts and headed up.
It's strange to see the court without seeing the roof itself -especially knowing that it's raining.



Beforehand, as we were walking about we saw Julien Benneteau practicing on a court where Rodina/Scheepers were due to be playing. Cue hilarity when some guys behind were speculating as to whether he was either Rodina or Scheepers!!!







Announcement that play was going to be delayed on the outside courts, and at 12:45 people were still coming in with soggy brollies.
Scheduling Murray on 1 on a day when rain was going to be forecast did seem a little strange now.

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall took her seat but when people started applauding (including herself) everyone where we were sat thought that either the Duchess of Cambridge or Pippa Middleton had arrived. Turned out it was Bruce Forsyth. Pfft





Venus and KDK out warming up - no sign of the net curtains yet. And once we did see them – well that outfit is all kinds of… I don’t know what! Think pillowcases with cutouts. It actually does NOTHING for her figure and made her look actually quite dumpy. Not a word I’d associate AT ALL with Venus.



And to add insult to sartorial injury… Venus got herself broken in the very first game, Kimiko ripping shots past her. Venus looked quite step-slow out there initially.









Venus broke in the next game, but was broken straight back. Games settled down a bit, with tricky holds for both, but Kimiko was looking certainly the more pumped of the two. Venus looked in danger of being broken again, but steadied the ship with some big thumping serves to hold.

Kimiko again had a few points taken off her in her next service game and scrapped herself back into the gamem but two DFs gave Venus another break. The rallies and netplay from both women was just amazing - great reflexes from both of them. Venus holds on, despite having had BPs against her.



Coming out to serve for the set again, Kimiko endured a long service game. Lots of wasted chances and UEs gave Venus another break, which she consolidated with a hold, putting in her in the lead for the first time in the match, after winning four games on the bounce.





Kimiko fought through her next service game to force a tiebreak and actually started out the stronger of the two, but in typical Williams style clawed her way back from having been 2-6 down. There were a couple of just-wide calls and we saw a rare challenge from Venus at 6-7, but the ball was just in.
Kimiko took the set on her serve and the buzz around the centre court was electric.



Long service games for both women at the start of the second set, and a break for Venus in the third game.
Things settled a bit in the following games with both holding their serves and again, Venus was making heavy weather of holding her serves. It seemed for a time that the intensity of both women had dipped a little bit but Venus managed to break to take the set, but Kimiko seemed to be getting a bit more lively again in time for the deciding set.







Venus took an early break, but handed it straight back at the start of the third set, with a DF.
Kimiko struggled with a very long service game, and Venus wasted some chances to break again.
As the set wore on, Venus was returning a lot better and her energy levels seemed to be on the up. In fact both of them started to pick up the pace, and Venus’s shrieking was getting more and more primal! Someone called out in the middle of a point, but she was able to regain her composure and in fact smacked down an ace to hold.

The rallies we were being treated to were simply amazing and the service games were getting increasingly more nervy – it really would be a case of who would blink first.











Venus finally takes it 8-6 – this was easily the best match we’d seen over the three days, and possibly the best I’d seen this year, besting Hantuchova taking out Wozniacki at RG.





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