• Wimbledon, Day Three

What They Said

Venus Williams is hunting a sixth Wimbledon title © Getty Images

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Wimbledon Day Three Gallery
Plays of the Day: Day Three
Men's round-up: Nadal marches on
Women's round-up: Venus scrapes through
What They Said

Venus Williams remained on course for a sixth Wimbledon title after edging past veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-7(6) 6-3 8-6. It wasn't vintage Venus but the No. 23 seed was simply relieved to have found a way through to the third round. She said: "I think more than anything I've learned I'm very competitive. I've been extremely positive regardless of how my opponent's playing. Just no matter what the score, very positive. Just keeping fighting."

Venus also paid tribute to her evergreen opponent, saying: "I played a very tough opponent today. She doesn't play anywhere near her age," she said. "Obviously she's a huge role model. She hits hard and she runs fast and she's extremely competitive, as you saw today."

Venus has battled back to fitness after struggling with injury - she was forced to retire at the Australian Open with an abdominal injury and only returned to action at Eastbourne last week. The five-time champion has only played in four tournaments over the past year and she admits she is just glad to be back on the court, and occupied.

"When you lose, that gives you extra time to go practice and work out in the gym," she said. "But I prefer not to have the extra time. I've had a ton of extra time to be in the gym in the last five months, then the three months before that, then the three months before that. So it's been too much gym time."

Andy Murray continued to fly the flag for Britain after overcoming Tobias Kamke with relative ease. Despite recording a comprehensive 6-3 6-3 7-5 victory, the world No. 4 feels there is room for improvement. He said: "I served well, but the rest of my game needs some work. He was hitting the ball flat so it was hard to get into a rhythm. I need to use my legs better, get in the right positions for the ball. It's a little bit different on Court One - it's very open, so the sun is more of a factor. There were a lot of good rallies and he won a lot of them up at the net, but it was a good workout for me."

Rafael Nadal racked up his 16th straight victory at SW19, crushing Ryan Sweeting 6-3 6-2 6-4 to breeze into round three. The Spaniard was delighted with his display and even more enamoured with Centre Court. He said: "I played well. I had the match under control at 2-1, 40-0 in the third set but then made a few mistakes. This is the best court in the world. It's a pleasure always to play here. It was a new experience under the roof but I prefer to play with no roof, that's for sure."

Laura Robson joined fellow Brit's Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha in reaching the second round - the first time three British women have done so at Wimbledon since 2004 - with a gutsy 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3 win over Angelique Kerber. And she immediately turned her attentions to a third-round encounter with fifth seed Maria Sharapova. She wrote on social networking site Twitter: "I'm so happy! Absolutely amaaaazing atmosphere on court. Thank you all! Can't wait to play Sharapova tomorrow!"

In her post-match press conference she added: "I always knew I could play really well but this year I've been injured quite a look but now I'm feeling good and really looking forward to playing Sharapova. I'm going to be on court one playing against Sharapova so I think that's pretty special. Hopefully I can play as well as I know I can."

Heather Watson suffered an agonising loss in her first-round match against Mathilde Johansson of France. A right elbow problem clearly affected her performance and, following her 2-6 6-4 6-4 defeat, she said: "I've never felt anything like this before. I really wanted to win and I thought I had the match. I'm just asking myself now, 'Why me?'. Why couldn't it [the injury] have happened in another tournament? Why this one? This was the hardest defeat of my professional career because it was a great opportunity for me. I know how to play tennis. This is what I prepare for. This is why I play tennis every day, so I should be ready. I feel like I should be winning these matches. That's why I'm so annoyed."

On the injury itself, which she suffered in the second set, she said: "I just felt my elbow go on a serve," added the British number two. It was something in the middle. I didn't want to serve too hard after because I had to be careful. It didn't help. It was frustrating and I thought I lost my concentration a bit."

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