Wimbledon 2013: Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens advance to 4th round

Serena Williams (l) Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan following their match in Wimbledon, June 29, 2013. PHOTO/Sang Tan/AP

Serena Williams earned her 600th career victory by brushing aside 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-2, 6-0 on Center Court to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon on Saturday.

Date-Krumm was the oldest woman to reach the third round of Wimbledon in the Open era – having made the semifinals here in 1996 – and the Japanese veteran never stood a chance against the power game of the 31-year-old Williams.

Playing under the lights with the retractable roof closed on Center Court in the last match of the day, Williams finished with 28 winners to 8 for Date-Krumm and broke her five times.

Williams, the five-time champion will next face Sabine Lisicki of Germany.

Meanwhile, 17th seeded Sloane Stephens, shook off a sluggish start in a match delayed by darkness Friday to beat Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7-3), 0-6, 6-4.

“It was definitely tough,” said Stephens, who blamed the waning light for her mid-match slump. “Lost focus there. But, I mean, it’s a Grand Slam, so you just have to play hard, just keep going, know battling will go a long ways.

Stephens moves on to play 19-year-old Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, with whom she’s familiar from when they both trained as pre-teens with coach Nick Saviano in South Florida. This will be their first match against each other as professionals.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press