Four time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams of USA rallied from a set down to beat Chinese contender Jie Zheng in three sets with a 6(5)-7 6-2 9-7 scoreline and secured her berth in the last sixteen of the 2012 Championships on Saturday.

Serena started off the match well; she was serving particularly well from the start. The first set was an even affair, where Zheng surprised Serena with her ground strokes. The Chinese hit hard and was unbelievably consistent in her hitting. As a result of that, she went through the set without facing a break point. She went into the tie break and, the wind and a bit of luck helped her to win the first set. There really was nothing to separate the two players in that set. In the second, Serena upped a gear, and it had a familiar pattern she broke her opponent early and went on to take that set 6-2.

The third set was an absolute thriller as the Chinese woke up in the third and started to play at the level she was playing in the first set. In the fourth game she squandered 3 break point opportunities, and it could convert them. What was baffling was the fact that Zheng was actually playing toe to toe with Serena, something that really is a rarity. Serena Williams wasn't able to make any in-roads on the Zheng serve up until the 15th game when she finally got a break point where she cashed in. The 4 time champion then held on to her serve to finish off the marathon match winning 6-7,6-2, 9-7. Williams arrowed 23 aces and smashed 54 winners to wrap it up.