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LONDON, England – Five-time champion Venus Williams got her Wimbledon challenge underway with a hard-fought win over Donna Vekic on the opening Monday.

In a high-quality encounter, Williams held her nerve at the conclusion of both sets to run out a 7-6(3), 6-4 victory.

“The first round is never easy and she played amazing tennis today,” Williams said. “I expect players to feel free and go for it when they play me. In the first set there were some hairy moments but I guess that’s when experience sets in and I had the chance to win the important points.”

Vekic has endured a season to forget, failing to win a WTA main draw match since February. However, if she was short on confidence it did not show against Williams, trading on even terms with the World No.8 for much of their two hours on court.

She had her chances, too, particularly during an opening set, which she served for at 6-5. Perhaps undermined by memories of her recent run, the Croatian saw two sets points slip before Williams pinched it on the tie-break. The second set was just as closely contested, but once again it was the American that finished stronger, a forehand winner bringing her the solitary break in the ninth game.

Williams, who turned 36 a couple of weeks ago and is seeded No.8, is competing at a Grand Slam for a record-equaling 71st time, but still enjoys pitting herself against the new guard: “You got to enjoy the battle because that’s what it is every time you step on the court. You never know what will happen.”

Age is just a number…@Venuseswilliams kicks off her 19th #Wimbledon with a 7-6, 6-4 win over Donna Vekic ? https://t.co/86VTT9bcSG

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) 27 June 2016

One member of the next generation expected to go far this fortnight is No.9 seed Madison Keys. A champion at both Birmingham and Eastbourne over the past few years, Keys is no stranger to success on grass, and displayed her nous to overpower Laura Siegemund, 6-3, 6-1.

The next challenge will be 2013 semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens, after she brushed aside Nicole Gibbs, 6-3, 6-1. Elsewhere, there were contrasting fortunes for another former semifinalist, Ana Ivanovic, who was bundled out by qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova.

A few days on from squeaking past World No.446 Harriet Dart in the final round of qualifying, Alexandrova elevated her game to another level, surviving a late wobble to triumph, 6-2, 7-5.

It’s one of the most glorious days of the tennis season: Wimbledon’s manic Monday. All eight fourth-round battles will take place at SW19 and we’re previewing them right here at WTATennis.com, courtesy of contributor Chris Oddo.

Monday

Round of 16

[1] Serena Williams (USA #1) vs. [13] Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #14)
Head-to-head: Williams leads, 9-3
Key Stat: Williams earned her 300^th Grand Slam win on Sunday, which is second-most in WTA history.

After a tough second round scuffle with Christina McHale, six-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams pushed past Germany’s Annika Beck on Sunday in 51 minutes to set up a heavily anticipated round of 16 battle with Svetlana Kuznetsova. Pleased with Sunday’s form, Williams says the McHale challenge has set her up nicely for the challenges ahead. “I think the McHale match really helped me,” she said. “To be honest, I felt like losing that first set so tight and her playing better than she’s ever played in her life really helped me to realize that I can play better and I can lift my game.” And of her Day 7 walk in the park past Beck? “It gives me a lot of confidence,” she told reporters on Sunday. “I know what it takes to win these tournaments. It’s just about now just doing it.” Kuznetsova’s confidence is also buoyed by her upset of Williams this spring in Miami. “It’s a great thing to play Serena in Wimbledon,” she said of facing the world No.1 on Monday. “I’m really happy about it. She will be the favorite, but I enjoy playing those kind of matches. I will just try to do my best.” Will her best be good enough to shock Centre Court on Day 8, or will Williams move a step closer to an elusive 22nd Grand Slam title on Monday?

Pick: S. Williams in three

[27] CoCo Vandeweghe (USA #30) vs. [21] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS #23)
Head-to-head: Vandeweghe leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Pavlyuchenkova has won three matches consecutively on grass for the first time in her career.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova looked stunning in her straight-sets takedown of Timea Bacsinszky on Sunday; CoCo Vandeweghe was in fine form during her straight-sets victory over Roberta Vinci on Sunday. Which one of these two powerhouses can keep it rolling on Manic Monday? Vandeweghe has had more success on the grass in general. The American has now won 11 of 12 on the surface this summer and has taken all six sets she has played at Wimbledon. A quarterfinalist last year, Vandeweghe will be the favorite heading into this tilt, but if Pavlyuchenkova’s current form holds we could be in for a high-octane scuffle. “It’s going to be a totally different animal,” Vandeweghe said of facing the hard-hitting Russian just 24 hours after facing slice-and-dicey Roberta Vinci. “She beat a tough player in Bacsinszky. We’ll see what happens when I wake up Monday morning.”

Pick: Vandeweghe in three

[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #3) vs. [19] Dominika Cibulkova (SVK #18)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads, 7-5
Key Stat: Cibulkova has won eight matches in a row.

The 13th meeting between Agnieszka Radwanska and Dominika Cibulkova should be a cracker. The pair have played three times in 2016 and all three tilts have gone the distance with Cibulkova winning two including their last meeting at the Aegon Classic just a few weeks ago. That victory has springboarded the Slovakian to some of her greatest success on grass – she took the Birmingham title and has reached the second week at Wimbledon for the first time since 2011. Can Cibulkova keep it going against a former Wimbledon runner-up who has her eyes on another deep run here in London? Or will the crafty Radwanska be the one to finally cool Cibulkova off?

Pick: Radwanska in three

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS #35) vs. Elena Vesnina (RUS #50)
Head-to-head: Makarova leads, 6-1
Key Stat: In her 42nd major, Elena Vesnina will bid to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.

Doubles partners and compatriots will battle to end each other’s singles runs on Day 8, as Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina meet for the eighth time. The matchup has favored Makarova, who has had the more distinguished singles career, but both players have shown good form at SW19. Makarova took out two-time champion Petra Kvitova on Day 6 and bounced right back on Sunday to defeat Barbora Strycova. Vesnina, meanwhile, has yet to lose a set at Wimbledon and has won six of seven on grass this season.

Pick: Makarova in two

[5] Simona Halep (ROU #5) vs. [9] Madison Keys (USA #9)
Head-to-head: Tied, 1-1
Key Stat: At 21 years of age, Keys is the youngest player remaining in the draw.

Skipping the grass tune-ups may have been the best thing for Simona Halep. Not only did she give herself time to get her Achilles injury ready, she also had ample time to gain comfort at Wimbledon, both with the surroundings and with the surface. She says she wanted to keep playing after pulling out of Birmingham with an injury, but her coach urged her to come to Wimbledon and start preparing for the Championships. “I wanted to play Eastbourne but Darren [Cahill] told me I have to come here to practice,” she told reporters on Saturday. “It’s better to get used to this club. It was a good idea. I came here very early, and I practiced every day, hard practices.” Will that practice pay off when she meets rising American Madison Keys on Monday? Keys proved to be a Wimbledon warrior in week one, twice coming through in three sets to reach the second week for the second consecutive year.

Pick: Halep in three

[4] Angelique Kerber (GER #4) vs. Misaki Doi (JAP #49)
Head-to-head: Kerber leads, 4-0
Key Stat: Doi is the first player from Japan to reach the fourth round at a major since Wimbledon 2006 (Sugiyama).

Misaki Doi is a name that holds a special place in Angelique Kerber’s heart. Kerber had “one leg on the plane” in Melbourne before rallying in the second-set tiebreaker to finish off Doi in three sets at this year’s Australian Open. So much changed for Kerber after that fateful first-round match. She won her first major title two weeks later and has reached as high as No.2 in the rankings. After flaming out of Roland Garros in the first round, Kerber is looking to continue to build on that Melbourne success by pushing further at Wimbledon. Doi, meanwhile has already reached further than she’s ever been before at the Championships. She took out Anna-Lena Friedsam in the third round to reach the second week of a major for the first time. Can the 25-year-old avenge her four career losses to Kerber with one career-defining win on Monday?

Pick: Kerber in three

[8] Venus Williams (USA #8) vs. [12] Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP #12)
Head-to-head: Tied, 3-3
Key Stat: Venus Williams is the oldest player to reach the round of 16 at a major since 1994 Wimbledon (Navratilova).

Back in the second week at Wimbledon for the 14^th time, 36-year-old Venus Williams will attempt to take the next step of what could be a run for the ages. But standing in her way is an energized Carla Suárez Navarro, a player not known for grass prowess but nonetheless improving on the surface with each passing year. Williams and Suárez Navarro’s seventh meeting promises to be a battle—they’ve split the previous six. Does Williams have enough in the tank to forge ahead despite having to play three sets in each of her last two matches? One thing’s for certain: she’s up for the challenge. “Of course, I want to win,” Williams said. “There are 128 people in this draw who theoretically are here to win. But you have to do the right things at the right time. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to push myself to be right there.”

Pick: V. Williams in three

[28] Lucie Safarova (CZE #29) vs. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ #96)
Head-to-head: Shvedova leads, 3-0
Key Stat: Safarova is back in the second week of a major for the first time in a year.

Lucie Safarova is finally reclaiming the form that saw her reach her first Grand Slam final and claim a spot in the Top 10 for the first time in 2015, after a long period of illness and injury. Is she ready to take the next stop and reach the last eight at Wimbledon for the second time in the last three years? She’ll have to get past Yaroslava Shvedova to get there. The Kazakh owns an unblemished lifetime record against Safarova, and will be high on confidence after an upset of Sabine Lisicki on Day 6.

Pick: Safarova in three

By the Numbers:

4 – Number of Russian players in the round of 16 at Wimbledon, most at Wimbledon since 2009. There are also four Americans remaining. Eight other countries have a single representative.

11-1 – Coco Vandeweghe’s record on grass this season.

33 – Number of three-set matches played in the first three rounds at Wimbledon out of a possible 112.

123 – Fastest serve of the tournament, produced by Serena Williams during her Day 7 win over Annika Beck.

7 – Players to have reached the round of 16 without the loss of a set (Cibulkova, Doi, Halep, Kerber, Pavlyuchenkova, Vesnina, Vandeweghe).

LONDON, England – Serena and Venus Williams capped off a satisfying day at Wimbledon by teaming up to defeat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in an entertaining doubles encounter.

A busy afternoon for the family began with Venus taking on Yaroslava Shvedova on No.1 Court. No sooner had she secured a place in her first major semifinal since 2010 then the Williams clan were hot-footing it to Centre Court in time to see little sister take on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Serena kept her quest for history on track with a straightforward win over the Russian, leaving a couple of hours to ready herself for the evening’s doubles date.

Four summers ago, the sisters overcame Hlavackova and Hradecka in competitive finals at both Wimbledon and the Olympics. Once again the Czechs gave a good account of themselves, and once again they were left disappointed when Venus swatted away a backhand volley to close out a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

“The schedule’s challenging. I won’t deny. Especially with the weather, that sort of thing,” Venus said. “Thankfully it’s been better the last few days. We love the doubles. There’s been so many doubles titles. That’s been very special for us. We’re going to give it everything we got.”

Joining them in the last eight are compatriots Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears. Taking on the gifted yet inexperienced pairing of Daria Gavrilova and Daria Kasatkina, Atawo and Spears were in control throughout, dominating on serve and closing out a 6-3, 6-3 victory in just over an hour.

“We love playing on the grass together, and I think that our strategy of covering the net a bit more than other teams bothered them a bit and they never really got into a groove,” Atawo said.

“We practice these sort of situations a lot. We practice our communication during the points. It really does comes down to practice.”

In the draw’s outstanding second-round encounter, No.4 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina returned for a third set shoot-out with Annika Beck and Yanina Wickmayer.

Twenty-four hours earlier Vesnina had edged out her long-time partner in a titanic fourth-round singles battle. Back on the same side of the net, there was no lingering ill-feeling as the Russians completed their comeback win, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

LONDON, Great Britain – Six months after Angelique Kerber’s stunning win over World No.1 Serena Williams at the Australian Open, the two face off once more in a major final, as the rivals each captured emphatic semifinal victories to compete for the Venus Rosewater Dish on Saturday.

Combined, the two women have dropped just one set throughout the wet and wild fortnight at the All England Club, but the stakes are as high as ever for Serena, who is aiming to capture her record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title. For Kerber, a second major title would not only solidify her status among the game’s highest echelons, but would also prevent the American from tying countrywoman Stefanie Graf’s record, a role she deftly played in Melbourne

WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen is joined by wtatennis.com contributor Chris Oddo as the two preview what promises to be an exciting ladies’ final and the fruition of a burgeoning rivalry between Williams and Kerber:

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