Serena Williams

Serena Williams literally came back from the dead to defeat British No.1 and WTA Rising Star Heather Watson in a three-set thriller on Centre Court on Friday.

Watson had stunned Serena when she snatched the second set 6-4, after Serena had made the first set a casual affair, spanking the Briton 6-2 in 25minutes.

But Watson’s rock solid ground game began troubling Serena in the second set, with Serena committing many errors and looking flustered.

But Watson kept piling more frustrations for her as she stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the third set and even bringing up two points for 4-0 in front of a thrilled Centre Court crowd.

Serena fought them both off, clawed back to 3-all, then held serve for 4-3 – out of the woods? Not yet.

Watson held for 4-all then snuck out another break for 5-4, giving herself a chance to serve for the match – twice she even got to deuce, just two points away from an historic victory for the home nation, as not since Sue Barker’s win over Chris Evert in Boston in 1979 had a Brit beaten a World No.1.

Heather Watson waves to the crowd after the loss

But it just wasn’t to be. The No.1-seeded Serena broke right back, held and then broke one last time to win it, closing out the 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory with one last massive unreturnable crosscourt backhand. The point was initially ruled out, but Serena challenged and a play back showed the ball landed right on the line.

“I’ve had some tough losses here, but that was probably my toughest match here, playing Heather in front of her home crowd,” Serena told the BBC afterwards.

“She played unbelievable. I think she should have won the match at this point. She was up two breaks – she really gave it her all.”

Serena was full of praises for her opponent and even encouraged her to set her sights beyond being among the Top 20.

“I was two points away, so I’m pretty disappointed,” Watson lamented. “But the atmosphere on that court was amazing. It really helped me and pushed me. I wish I could have closed it out at the end.

Serena’s fourth round opponent will be sister Venus, the No.16 seed, who had a much more routine day at the office, cruising past Aleksandra Krunic in 71 minutes, 6-3, 6-2.

*Adapted from www.wtatour.com