Serena Williams erased three breaks in the final set to stave off an upset bid by British home favourite Heather Watson in the third round of Wimbledon.

Williams was broken twice to trail 3-0 in the decider before turning things around, winning 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 Friday to keep alive her bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam. Williams went up 4-3 in the final set only to be broken again in the ninth game, giving Watson a chance to serve out the match. Williams broke right back again, however, held at love and then converted her third match point.

The 59th-ranked Watson had the partisan Centre Court crowd roaring throughout but fell short of becoming the first British woman to beat a No. 1 since Sue Barker defeated Chris Evert in Boston in 1979.

Williams will next face big sister Venus in the fourth round.

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Venus Williams is back in the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time since 2011.

The five-time champion beat Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2 Friday and could next face sister Serena, who was playing Heather Watson of Britain on Centre Court.

Venus Williams is playing her 18th Wimbledon, while the 82nd-ranked Krunic was making her first appearance at the All England Club.

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CoCo Vandeweghe of the U.S. is into the second week at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

The 47th-ranked Vandeweghe, the niece of former NBA player and executive Kiki, beat 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur, who was seeded 22nd at Wimbledon, 6-2, 6-0 in the third round Friday.

It took only an hour.

Stosur, who also lost to Vandeweghe at the Australian Open in January, has never had much success at the All England Club, never making it to the fourth round. This was only the third time in 13 appearances she even got as far as the third round.

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Belinda Bencic of Switzerland ended Bethanie Mattek-Sands' run at Wimbledon, knocking out the 158th-ranked American in straight sets in the third round.

Bencic won 7-5, 7-5 in a match that saw 10 breaks of serve and lasted 1 hour, 49 minutes on Court 18.

Mattek-Sands had to go through qualifying just to make the main draw and was the lowest-ranked woman left in the tournament. She was one of six American women to reach the third round, the highest total since 2005.