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Chanelle Scheepers stood up on her toes, swivelled and darted a back-hand winner down the line. It earned her the first point of her second-round match with Serena Williams and against the top-seed’s serve too. A murmur went round Court One. It was as good as it got for Scheepers, the world No 94. Three-quarters of an hour later and all was done and dusted and Williams was marching off court with a place in the third round secured having barely had to break sweat.
The South African’s first sortie beyond the first round here could not have been more one-sided. She was outgunned, Williams rocketing down serves that were a good 10mph quicker, and out run too with Williams moving well around the court. Barely a ball was beyond her reach.
At the French Open Williams was embarrassed at this stage, suffering what is regarded as her worst performance in a Grand Slam match as she won only four games against Garbine Muruguza of Spain. There was never any danger of something similar happening here. After that first point Williams won the next eight to take her first break. After nine minutes it was 3-0, after 25 minutes the first set was gone, sealed with an emphatic volley that thundered into the wall behind the court.
The second set followed the pattern of the first as Williams, calm and unruffled throughout, made the inevitable progress towards a third round meeting with Alice Cornet of France, who overcame Petra Cetkovska in three sets. The second set was even quicker, occupying only 18 minutes of the Court One crowds’ time – in all Williams’ afternoon’s work extended to 43 minutes.
The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014Show all 55 1 /55The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 13 Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer pose with their trophies after the final
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 13 Novak Djokovic celebrates his victory over Roger Federer
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 13 Samuel L Jackson and Sofia Davis in the Royal Box on Centre Court before the Gentlemen's Singles Final
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 13 Prince William Duke of Cambridge talks with Chris Hoy in the Royal Box on Centre Court before the Gentlemen's Singles Final
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 13 Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Gill Brook wife of AELTC Chairman Philip Brook in the Royal Box on Centre Court before the Gentlemen's Singles Final
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 13 Roger Federer celebrates clinching the first set of the men's singles final on a tie-break
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 12 Petra Kvitova kisses the winner's Venus Rosewater Dish during the presentation after beating Eugenie Bouchard
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 12 The moment Petra Kvitova won the final against Eugenie Bouchard
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 12 Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard after their Wimbledon final
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 12 Petra Kvitova celebrates winning a point during the Wimbledon final
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 11 Maria Sharapova watches boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov during his semi-final with Novak Djokovic
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 11 Serbia's Novak Djokovic receives a ball before serving during his men's singles semi-final match against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 11 Grigor Dimitrov pictured during his semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 11 Grigor Dimitrov pictured during his semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 10 Novak Djokovic of Serbia during a practice session as fans watch the action on day ten of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 10 Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic celebrates after winning her Ladies' Singles semi-final match against Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic on day ten of Wimbledon
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 9 Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after winning his Gentlemen's Singles quarter-final match against Marin Cilic
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 9 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge watch Andy Murray lose at Wimbledon
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 9 Andy Murray pictured during his defeat to Gregor Dimitrov
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 9 Andy Murray pictured during his defeat to Gregor Dimitrov
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 9 Gregor Dimitrov celebrates his win over Andy Murray
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 9 Canada's Eugenie Bouchard celebrates winning her women's singles quarter-final match against Germany's Angelique Kerber
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 9 Romania's Simona Halep celebrates winning her women's singles quarter-final match against Germany's Sabine Lisicki
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 9 Sabine Lisicki during her defeat to Simona Halep of Romania
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 8 Australia's Nick Kyrgios celebrates winning a game against Spain's Rafael Nadal
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 8 Nadal pictured during his defeat to Nick Kyrgios
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 8 Rafael Nadal of Spain during his fourth round defeat against Nick Kyrgios
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 8 Serena Williams receives treatment during the warm up before her second round doubles match with sister Venus before retiring
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 8 Maria Sharapova of Russia stands dejected during her Ladies' Singles fourth round defeat against Angelique Kerber
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 8 John Peers of Australia (l) and Jamie Murray of Great Britain (r) during their Gentlemen's Doubles third round defeat
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 8 Roger Federer during his Gentlemen's Singles fourth round victory over Tommy Robredo
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 7 Novak Djokovic celebrates his win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 7 Andy Murray after his victory over Kevin Anderson
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 7 Sir Alex Ferguson watches Andy Murray in action
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 7 Support for Andy Murray on Centre Court
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 7 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria celebrates after winning his Gentlemen's Singles fourth round match against Leonardo Mayer
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 7 Eugenie Bouchard of Canada celebrates after winning her Ladies' Singles fourth round match against Alize Cornet
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 7 Eugenie Bouchard receives support on Centre Court
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 7 Japan's Kei Nishikori signs autographs after winning his men's singles third round match against Italy's Simon Bolelli
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 6 Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova (L) and US player Madison Keys (R) switch sides during their women's singles third round match on day six of 2014 Wimbledon
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 6 Serena Williams fails to find the answers as she crashes out of Wimbledon
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 6 Six hours of play were lost on Saturday
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 6 Maria Sharapova started slowly against the American Alison Riske but ran out a 6-3, 6-0 winner
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 5 Andy Murray in action during his victory over Roberto Bautista
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 5 Kim Sears watches Andy Murray in action during his victory over Roberto Bautista
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 5 Ricky Gervais watches Andy Murray in action during his victory over Roberto Bautista
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 5 Novak Djokovic tumbles during his victory over Gilles Simon
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 5 Novak Djokovic in action against Gilles Simon
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 4 The roof is closed for the first time of the 2014 Wimbledon championships
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 4 Roger Federer heads off Centre Court to await the roof to come over during his win over Gilles Muller
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 4 Britain's Heather Watson (R) looks on during her women's singles second round defeat to Germany's Angelique Kerber
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 4 Maria Sharapova of Russia in action during her Ladies' Singles second round victory against Timea Bacsinszky
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 4 Andy Murray walks out to start a practice session on day four of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 4 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia celebrates after winning her Ladies' Singles second round match against Jie Zheng
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The best pictures from Wimbledon 2014 Day 4 Rafael Nadal shows his relief after coming from behind to beat Lukas Rosol
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“I am always favourite and that can be a little bit of pressure,” said Williams. “But I have learnt to deal with that.”
It was all rather more straightforward than last night’s doubles with her sister where they lost the first set and then Serena ended up careering into the crowd as she chased a wide return. She, and Venus, recovered to win the match – of course. “It was super fun doubles last night,” said Serena, who described the man who had caught her as a “wonderful gent.”
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