Wimbledon: Serena Williams advances; Venus eliminated

Serena Williams ran her Wimbledon winning streak to 17 matches and moved into the fourth round with a 7-5, 7-6 (2) victory over 62nd-ranked Kristina Mladenovic of France, thanks in part to 13 aces.

Seven of Williams’ 23 Grand Slam singles titles have come at the All England Club, including the last two times she played in the grass-court tournament, in 2015 and 2016. She sat out Wimbledon last year while pregnant.

The 36-year-old American will face another mother in the fourth round Monday: 120th-ranked qualifier Evgeniya Rodina of Russia, who upset No. 10 seed Madison Keys of the U.S.

Williams’ sister, five-time champion Venus, could not pull off a third consecutive comeback, instead joining the parade of top-10 seeds on the way out of the Grand Slam tournament.

Venus, the No. 9 seed, lost to No. 20 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-7 (5), 8-6 in the third round.

In each of her first two matches this week, Venus dropped the opening set before eventually winning in three. She couldn’t quite do the same this time.

Her exit means eight of the top 10 seeded women are gone before the end of Week 1 at the All England Club. Serena is the only past Wimbledon champion remaining in the field. Petra Kvitova, Maria Sharapova and Garbine Muguruza were eliminated earlier.

The 38-year-old American, who was last year’s runner-up at Wimbledon, was the oldest entrant in the women’s singles field.