Date-Krumm reaches milestone with Williams in path

The 42-year-old dug deep to see off Romania’s 23-year-old Alexandra Cadantu 6-4 7-5 on Court 12, where hundreds of Japanese fans had come to cheer her on.

The veteran, who was a beaten semi-finalist in the championships in 1996, had to break three times to clinch the first set and she survived a bout of nerves to seal a tight second.

Date-Krumm will next face top seed and world No 1 Williams, who ran out a 6-3 6-2 victor in one hour and six minutes against France’s Caroline Garcia.

The American is on a 33-match winning streak heading into her third-round tie against the Japanese, who two years ago faced Serena’s sister, Venus, at the All England Club.

“Kimiko has great hand-eye co-ordination,’’ Williams said. “She returns unbelievable shots. It doesn’t matter how hard you hit it, she sees the ball and gets it back.

“She has great hands, has a wonderful great volley, comes to the net a lot, which on grass can be tricky. She plays really flat, so the ball stays really low.”

It took Venus two hours and 55 minutes to beat Date-Krumm in 2011, edging a deciding set 8-6.

“I did see the match,” Williams said. “I think I lost four years of my life watching that match. So I will definitely be talking to Venus and figuring out what I can do to do the best that I can in my next match.”

Another American safely through the second round is 18-year-old Madison Keys, who overcame 30th seed Mona Barthel.

Petra Martic, Tsvetana Pironkova and Klara Zakopalova also collected wins, as did sixth seed Li Na and 11th seed Roberta Vinci.

Sabine Lisicki set up a clash with 2011 US Open winner Samantha Stosur, while Dominika Cibulkova and Marina Erakovic also won through.

Meanwhile, Williams has accepted Andy Murray’s invitation for a showdown but admits it would be a struggle to win just one game against the Scot.

After being challenged on Twitter to take on the 16-time grand slam winner, Murray revealed he was interested in taking part in such an exhibition.

The mere suggestion that the pair could play each other has echoes of the time the then 55-year-old Bobby Riggs, a tennis superstar of the 1930s and 1940s, took on Margaret Court and Billie Jean King.

Those matches in 1973 drew huge worldwide attention, particularly the latter, in Houston, that was dubbed the Battle of the Sexes.

Riggs overcame Court but was beaten by King, with their match the central act in a new documentary film, while Jimmy Connors defeated Martina Navratilova in Las Vegas in 1992.

Six years later, Williams was herself involved in a well-known encounter, taking on Karsten Braasch, then ranked 203rd in the world on the men’s tour, during the Australian Open.