Venus overcomes Date-Krumm at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England -- Time and again after losing a point, Venus Williams rolled her eyes, slumped her shoulders and let out a shriek of dismay that echoed through Centre Court, reverberating off its roof.

Facing the most, uh, experienced woman in the Wimbledon field -- 40-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan -- Williams was mired in a three-set struggle that lasted nearly three hours Wednesday, a tight, high-quality contest brimming with the sort of at-the-net, classic grass-court play seen so rarely nowadays.

"She doesn't play anywhere near her age," Williams said.

In the end, Williams, a five-time champion at the All England Club, mustered every bit of her competitive drive and considerable talent to pull out a 6-7 (6), 6-3, 8-6 comeback victory over Date-Krumm and reach the third round.

"She played unbelievable today. I thought she had some luck on her side, too, with net cords, balls hitting lines. I just thought today was a perfect storm for her to try to get a win," said Williams. "Thankfully, I had some answers."

None more effective than her serve, in the late-going, anyway. That stroke delivered 12 aces, helped Williams escape several jams and was clocked at 120 mph even in her final service game. Contrast that with Date-Krumm's serves, mostly about 80 mph.

One was 65 mph.

Date-Krumm, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 1996, quit tennis later that year, then came out of retirement in 2008, marveled at Williams' serve afterward, saying: "Not only speed -- it's on the corner. So it was very, very difficult to break her."

Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick had easy wins.

The top-ranked Nadal beat Ryan Sweeting of the United States 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, compiling 38 winners and only seven unforced errors. In the third round, Nadal will face Gilles Muller -- the only man other than Roger Federer to beat him at Wimbledon in the past six years.

"Will be a big, big test for me," Nadal said.

Roddick's strong serve was clicking again in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Victor Hanescu of Romania. The No. 8-seeded American hit 15 aces, saved the only break point he faced and limited his unforced errors to six -- all with a special pair of fans sitting at Centre Court: his parents.

"This is the first time they've seen me play here. ... I think today was the first time they ever sat in a box in my entire career," said Roddick.