LONDON — Twice, Serena Williams stood merely two points from a loss at Wimbledon against a British opponent buoyed by a roaring, flag-waving Centre Court crowd.
Twice, Williams was oh-so-close to the end of her bid for a fourth consecutive major title — and for the third leg of a calendar-year Grand Slam.
And twice, pushed to the precipice, Williams regrouped, resisted and wound up winning, as she so often does.
Stomping her foot after misses, alternately screaming in delight or despair, even wagging her finger at fans who booed her, the No. 1-seeded Williams overcame a surprisingly staunch challenge from 59th-ranked Heather Watson and emerged with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory in the third round Friday.
“I honestly didn’t think I was going to win,” said Williams, who trailed 3-0 and 5-4 in the final set. “How I pulled through, I really don’t know.”
Her 24th victory in a row at Grand Slam tournaments sets up a showdown Monday against another five-time Wimbledon champion, her older sister Venus.
“We’ve been facing each other a long time,” said the 16th-seeded Venus, who eliminated 82nd-ranked Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2.
This will be the 26th all-Williams matchup, and first at a major since Serena beat Venus in the 2009 Wimbledon final.
“It’s unfortunate that it’s so soon,” Serena said.
Other women’s fourth-rounders Monday: 2004 champion Maria Sharapova vs. Zarina Diyas; Victoria Azarenka vs. Belinda Bencic; and French Open runner-up Lucie Safarova vs. CoCo Vandeweghe of the U.S., who had never been this far at a major.
Men’s matchups: defending champion Novak Djokovic vs. Kevin Anderson; French Open champion Stan Wawrinka vs. David Goffin; Richard Gasquet vs. Nick Kyrgios.
Denis Kudla, an American wild-card entry, reached the second week at a major for the first time and awaits the winner of U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic against American John Isner, whose match was suspended because of darkness at 10-all in the fifth set. It harkened back to Isner’s record 70-68 fifth-set victory spread over three days in 2010, but he and Cilic have a looooong way to go to equal that marathon.