Compton native Serena Williams is always out to make a statement on the tennis court, and made another one on Wednesday after slamming 12 aces against No. 13-seeded Vera Zvonareva en route to a decisive 6-1, 6-0 victory to reach the Olympic quarterfinals at the All England Club in London.
The No. 4-seeded Williams hit 32 winners compared to just to three for the Russian Zvonareva, who also lost to Williams back in 2010 when they met in the Wimbledon final. Williams swept the final 10 games of the match, which took a grand total of 51 minutes to complete.
Afterwards, Williams noted her surprise of how well she was going to play today, noting a terrible practice session and a good bit of nerves as well:
"I was just playing unbelievable," Williams said. "I was nervous going into the match. I didn't speak to anyone and I had a bad practice. I had no idea I would play like this."
Fellow 2012 Wimbledon champion Roger Federer fought through two rain delays and a shaky moment to reach the quarterfinals by beating Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-5, 6-3.The No. 1-seeded Federer faced three break points in the first set alone but managed to beat them all. He was in total control after that.
A four-time Olympian, Federer has yet to win a singles medal.
Check out SI's complete medal tracker here.
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