Venus Williams, who defeated Daria Kasatkina, 7-5 4-6, 10-8, in the third round of Wimbledon, said the match was crazy from start to finish.
The 36-year-old Williams held a match point at 5-4 in the third set, but rain came and the players had to go off for more than an hour before returning for another eight games.
“It was just, I guess, nonstop action,” Williams said, adding that she was confused when the rain returned at match point. “It was like a Hollywood script. There was honestly such a roar in the crowd. I thought, ‘Did someone faint? Are there rats in the stadium?’ That actually happened to me once. There was a rat in the stadium. I didn't know what was happening. All of a sudden the rain came. I thought, ‘Really?’
"But I felt really confident coming back out at match point. I felt like I could take it.”
Williams will next face Carla Suarez Navarro. The two have split their six career meetings, and Venus beat the the 12th-seeded Suarez Navarro, 6-0, 6-4, at Wimbledon in 2009.
Last year, Suarez Navarro overcome Venus, 0-6, 6-1, 7-5, in Miami, and then Venus beat the Spaniard in straight sets in Wuhan.
“Different day, different year,” Venus said. “I got to go out there and go for broke again.”