ESPN Tennis

By Sonia Oxley

LONDON, June 27 - Revenge was on Venus Williams' mind as she pelted the Spaniard who had dared to knock her out of this year's Australian Open with a series of baseline bullets and service missiles at Wimbledon on Saturday.

Williams put her finger on the trigger and did not stop firing until she had won eight games in a row and hammered home to the upcoming Carla Suarez Navarro that there was only one seven times grand slam champion on the Centre Court.

The American showed some mercy in the second set, allowing her opponent to win three games in a row, but soon regained command to triumph 6-0 6-4 and set up a fourth-round meeting with Serb Ana Ivanovic.

"Today I realised that it wasn't the same match (as in Australia), and I was determined to really run away with it," Williams told a news conference, saying it had been good to avenge the Melbourne second-round defeat.

"(It was) completely different circumstances. In Australia, I had a lot of opportunities, but didn't take advantage of them," the five-times Wimbledon champion added.

After spectators had risen to their feet applauding to mark Britain's first Armed Forces Day, they were soon cheering again as Williams took charge of the on-court battle.

POWERFUL SERVE

Against a Williams serve that reached up to 124 mph, the Spaniard swatted ineffectually at the ball and could not make any impact on the 33-minute first set.

Her own serve hardly ever reached triple figures and Williams stood well inside the baseline to attack her opponent's second serves.

The third seed won the first two games of the second before Suarez Navarro began to fight back by using her accomplished backhand, drawing loud cheers when she held for the first time and the crowd sensed they might see more of a contest.

The Spaniard, more of a claycourt player, then found a rare breakthrough on the Williams serve in the next game, with the American blaming the glaring sun for her poor service game.

"I think I rushed a little bit. It's sunny on that side, so sometimes a little bit more difficult to serve. I should have put some in instead of serving and being blind," she said.

As spectators wafted their patterned paper fans in front of their faces trying to cool down, Williams barely broke sweat.

"The heat usually isn't a factor for me," said Williams, who was watched by fellow Olympic gold medallists rower Steve Redgrave and cyclist Chris Hoy.

Seeking a third consecutive singles title at the All England club, Williams said she had no particular game plan going into the business end of the tournament.

"I don't have all these strategies on first week, second week. It's just you've got to play good tennis," she said.

"I definitely feel calm, and I know what I need to execute on the court. I feel good." (Editing by Ken Ferris; To comment on this story: sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index