APWIMBLEDON, England - There was no doubt about the score in this Williams match.
A day after sister Venus was the victim of an umpire’s mistake during a second-round defeat, top-seeded Serena Williams swept into the third round at Wimbledon on Friday with a 6-0, 6-4 win over French qualifier Stephanie Foretz.
No. 2-seeded Myskina was eliminated 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round by Amy Frazier, a 31-year-old American making her 16th appearance at Wimbledon. Frazier, ranked No. 36, hadn’t advanced past the third round since 1996.
Three of the top six women’s seeds have been knocked out before the first weekend — Myskina, No. 3 Venus Williams and No. 6 Elena Dementieva, the losing finalist at the French Open.
In the biggest upset in the men’s draw so far, third-seeded Coria lost in the second round to Germany’s Florian Mayer, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. Coria, an Argentine clay-courter who had never won a match at Wimbledon before this year, had needed four days to compete a rain-delayed first-round match over Wesley Moodie on Thursday.
In other women’s play, fourth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo beat American qualifier Jennifer Hopkins, 6-3, 6-3, and No. 7 Jennifer Capriati downed British wild card Elena Baltacha, 6-4, 6-4.
Serena Williams, the two-time defending champion, had an uneven performance on Court 1 against a 125th-ranked player who had never won a Wimbledon match until the first round.
Williams sailed through the first set in 22 minutes, ripping a backhand down-the-line winner on set point. When Foretz won her first game, holding serve for 1-1 in the second set, she got a big ovation.
That seemed to lift the Frenchwoman, who broke in the next game and held for 3-1. Foretz had three chances to break for 4-1, but Williams saved all three to make it 3-2.
From 4-2 down, Williams won four straight games to close out the match in 64 minutes. After Foretz stumbled and hit a backhand into the net on match point, Williams — who had been subdued through most of the match — shouted, “C’mon!”
“I just kind of slacked off a little bit in the second set,” said Williams, who committed 23 unforced errors. “There are still some things I want to try to work on.”
On Wednesday, a scoring error by British chair umpire Ted Watts contributed to Venus Williams’ 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) loss to Croatia’s Karolina Sprem.
Watts gave Sprem a point she didn’t earn in the final tiebreaker. He called the score 2-2, when Sprem should have been taking a second serve with Williams ahead 2-1. Neither player disputed the call. Williams built a 6-3 edge, but lost the next five points for her earliest loss at Wimbledon since 1997.
The All England Club announced Friday that Watts won’t officiate another match at this tournament.
Serena Williams, who said she didn’t watch her sister’s match, questioned why Sprem didn’t acknowledge the error at the time.
“As a competitor and as a professional, you should be able to distinguish between right and wrong,” she said. “I’ve never been in a situation like that before. I’m an honest individual. If I were in that situation, I know I’d make the right choice.”
Roddick was asked what he would do if he received a free point because of an umpire’s error.
“Personally, I’d have trouble just taking a point from someone,” he said. “I’ve heard that no one noticed and stuff, but if it’s the biggest match of your life, I’m figuring you know what the score is.”
Sprem said Thursday she was confused but was focusing on the match.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic wasted a chance to serve out the match and was beaten 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 by sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych in the Italian Open quarterfinals Friday.
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