VENUS WILLIAMS IS through to the third round of Wimbledon, after beating veteran Kimiki Date-Krumm in a mammoth three-setter in SW19.

The five-times winner took almost three hours to beat her 40-year-old opponent 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 8-6 under the Centre Court roof.

Williams struggled badly during the early exchanges and saw Date-Krumm race into a 5-1 lead. Just when it seemed like the first set had fallen out of her grasp, however, the former world number one rattled off five games on the bounce to make it 6-5.

Date-Krumm, on her own serve, arrested the slide with a stop-volley in the 12th game and a tie-break resulted.

The Japanese player, the second oldest person to compete in the women’s side of the draw after Martina Navratilova, took the first set on her eighth set point when Williams fired into the net.

The second set was a far more straightforward affair, as Williams broke her opponent in the third game and was never troubled thereafter, but the third proved to be every bit as tense as the opener.

Williams and Date-Krumm swapped early breaks to leave it at 2-2 before both players closed ranks and held their serves for what seemed like an interminable number of games.

The American’s serve, however, proved to be her greatest asset as Date-Krumm wilted, and two hours and 55 minutes into the match Williams had two match points at 15-40. Date-Krumm shot wide as she tried to save the game and the favourite went through.