In another one of her typical dominant matches, Serena Williams stormed past Timea Babos to advance to the third round of the Championships, setting up the clash against Heather Watson. She was broken in the first game of the match but recovered from there to dominate the entire encounter and advance in straight sets. In the end, following 23 winners, Williams beat Babos 6-4, 6-1 in 59 minutes.

“I’ve seen her around the locker room. She’s always smiling – she seems to be so super sweet,” Williams said. “I know Venus has played her before. I’ve watched that match a few times. I feel like she does really well on grass – she’s played well in Eastbourne. And she had a really good win today.

“I know it’s not going to be easy for me. She has nothing to lose. She’s going forward.”

British No. 1 Heather Watson also went down a break early in her match against Daniela Hantuchova but was able to work her way out of that hole to dominate the remainder of the encounter en route to the third round of the tournament. She defeated her opponent 6-4, 6-2, needing one more game than her upcoming challenge.

“I’m really happy with the way I played today,” Watson said. “I went 3-1 down in the first set, made a few double faults in that game, kind of gave that game away – but I thought what I did really well today is I stayed composed. I didn’t let that bother me. I was a lot more aggressive and played my game.”

This marks the first time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour and could make for a highly intriguing encounter if both play of their respective top-forms. It is hard to pick against Williams but anything is possible on grass.

“Serena’s a great player, an amazing athlete, a great champion,” Watson said. “She’s always the one to watch and she’s always the favorite for every tournament she plays – so I think she’s the one to beat.”