Five-time champion Venus Williams withstood a stern test from rising Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari to move through to the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday.

The No.8 seed steadied for a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 victory over the world No.115, as intermittent drops of rain threatened play throughout the second and third sets.

Barring her loss to an unranked Kim Clijsters at the 2009 US Open, Williams had not lost to a player outside the top 100 at a Grand Slam since Barbara Schwartz at the 1999 French Open but, after dropping the second set to the pumped-up 20-year-old, her streak looked in danger.

The 36-year-old, making a record 19th appearance at the All England Club, sneaked the first set 7-5 when Sakkari gifted consecutive backhand errors on serve.

Both players were looking to the increasingly dark skies overhead, but the rain held off as the pair traded five service breaks in the second set before the Greek player levelled the match with a brilliant backhand down the line from well wide of the tram lines.

Williams drew first blood in the deciding set when she broke for 4-2, but serving at deuce in the following game she was handed a time violation after an earlier warning and made to take a second serve. “How can you give me a time violation when I can’t even get the ball?” she asked chair umpire Marijana Veljovic.

It was enough to spur the former champion into action though as she held for 5-2. Serving for her place in the third round, she brought up three match points with a big unreturnable serve down the T and took it on her first when Sakkari’s backhand landed halfway up the net.

Williams will next meet the Russian No.29 seed Daria Kasatkina.

More to follow

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