Williams notches 300th Slam victory to tie Navratilova

Serena Williams has won so many Grand Slam matches that she's lost count.

Then again, as she noted on Sunday, it's her losses that get a lot more attention these days.

Looking much more ready for Week 2 at Wimbledon than she did in her previous outing, Williams joined Martina Navratilova as the only women with 300 victories at major tournaments in the Open era by overwhelming Annika Beck 6-3, 6-0 in 51 minutes to advance to the fourth round.

"Every time I step out on the court, if I don't win it's major national news," Williams said a day after her counterpart in the men's draw, world No 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic, was ousted.

"But if I do win, it's just like a small tag in the corner."

Pushed to three sets her last time out, Williams was about as dominant as can be against her 43rd-ranked German opponent.

Williams won the last 17 points she served and 24 of the last 28 points overall. She accumulated 25 winners to two for Beck.

Afterward, the six-time Wimbledon champion was asked whether she knew she had reached a milestone by getting her 300th Grand Slam match win, breaking a tie with Chris Evert for second place behind Navratilova's total of 306.

"No. Was it? Cool. Oh, nice," the 34-year-old American said with a laugh. "I had no idea. That's awesome, right? That's good, right?"

She's now 300-42 - an .877 winning percentage - and will go for No 301 right away. All 16 men's and women's fourth-round matches are scheduled for Monday, when Williams faces two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Thanks to sun on Sunday, the tournament is all caught up after persistent rain left a backlog of matches. This was only the fourth time since The Championships, as they're called around these parts, began 139 years ago that matches were played on the middle Sunday.

On the other three occasions - 1991, 1997, 2004 - fans lined up overnight to buy tickets that normally are so difficult, and expensive, to come by, creating a loud festival of flag-waving, face-painted folks thrilled to be on-site for once.

This time, seats could only be purchased online, and there was a far less vibrant vibe than in the past on what is known as "People's Sunday."

"I thought it would feel really different, but it didn't feel much different." Williams said when asked to compare this day with an average one at the grasscourt Grand Slam.

She was as shocked as the rest of the tennis world by Djokovic's third round exit against Sam Querrey on Saturday, but is using her fellow world No 1's demise as a valuable lesson not to underestimate any opponent.

Williams, who is hoping to tie Steffi Graf's Open era record of 22 Grand Slam triumphs, said: "I think there are only two people that you can say that about, out of all the athletes.

"He and I have both made extreme history. He's won four in a row. I won four in a row last year. I think that's historic in itself.

"I thought Novak would come back. I was surprised he didn't, actually, but it is what it is. I don't look at it as a burden. It's really awesome to be in that position."

If anything, this middle Sunday was oddly subdued.

Arenas were filled with rows and rows of unclaimed green chairs.

Small clusters of spectators applauded politely, if at all.

"Strange feeling, a little bit because I don't see many people around," said No 7 Richard Gasquet, who helped give France four men in the round of 16 at Wimbledon for the first time since 1929.

Gasquet's next opponent is another member of that rare quartet, No 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who erased a two-set deficit then saved a match point en route to edging No 18 John Isner of the United States 19-17 in a fifth set that lasted more than two hours all by itself.