Venus Williams says staying sharp tough despite easing into last eight

Venus Williams admits it is a stretch to remain competitive at Wimbledon as she prepares to reach a stunning landmark.

The five-time champion is hunting another title at the All England Club, which would make her the oldest singles grand slam winner in the open era.

Now 37, Williams last lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish nine years ago, but in the absence of sister Serena there is nobody with greater big-match experience left in the draw, as she heads into her 100th Wimbledon singles match on Tuesday.

A rock-solid 6-3 6-2 victory over Croatian 19-year-old Ana Konjuh on Centre Court has teed up a quarter-final tussle with Latvia’s 20-year-old French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who was a 6-3 7-6 (8/6) winner against Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina.

Asked how she stays so nimble, in her 20th Wimbledon campaign, Williams said: “I just keep stretching. I have no secrets. I’m just doing what I always have done.

“I think I stretch a little harder now. But only because I enjoy it. Winning never gets old at any stage in your career, ever, ever.”

Her absent sister, reigning Wimbledon champion Serena, won the Australian Open in January at the age of 35, and is off the tour awaiting the birth of her first child.

Nobody in recent times has landed a singles major at 37, while Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Chris Evert are the only women to have played 100 or more singles matches at Wimbledon.

Williams is not looking at the significance of her achievements while the big matches keep coming.

“You’ll have to ask me when I’m retired, what it feels like,” she said. “But for now, it’s all about focusing on the best performance possible (on Tuesday).”

Ostapenko needed eight match points to get over the line against Svitolina, as the 13th seed continued to back up her remarkable Roland Garros triumph.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber will lose the world number one ranking next week after bowing out 4-6 6-4 6-4 to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, in a clash of the last two women’s final runners-up.

Muguruza goes on to play the experienced Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who downed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-4 to reach a fourth Wimbledon quarter-final but first for 10 years.

The top ranking on Monday will go to either Romanian Simona Halep, who must reach the semi-finals, or the already-eliminated Karolina Pliskova.

Halep ended Victoria Azarenka’s impressive tournament with a sharp 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 victory over the Belarusian. Azarenka, who gave birth to son Leo in December, was playing in just her second tournament since returning to competition.

On Tuesday Halep will tackle Johanna Konta, Britain’s first women’s singles quarter-finalist since Jo Durie’s 1984 run. Konta edged through 7-6 (7/3) 4-6 6-4 against Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia.

And Halep will banish thoughts about the number one ranking, saying: “I want to win more, not just one match. So I’m not thinking about that.”

American Coco Vandeweghe, the 24th seed, has an attacking game perfectly suited to the grass and strode on with an impressive 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 victory over Danish fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Next for Vandeweghe will be unseeded Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, who extended her career-best grand slam performance by overcoming Croatian Petra Martic 6-4 2-6 6-3 on Court 18.

Vandeweghe and Rybarikova met in the first round of the French Open six weeks ago. Rybarikova swept through in straight sets that time, and Vandeweghe is not daring to think about winning the title despite being tipped by many as a serious contender.

“No chance. If I didn’t do it in the first round, I’m not going to do it now,” said the 25-year-old.

Until this year’s championships, Rybarikova had paid nine visits to Wimbledon and suffered eight first-round defeats over that time, with the exception a third-round run two years ago.

“It’s obviously an amazing feeling for me,” she said. “I’m in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, which obviously was my dream. Now it’s happening. I would never say it could happen.”