A clash between a pair of former Wimbledon champions lived up to the hype as the third round of women's action began on Friday.

Kvitova outlasts Venus in Epic

When the smoke settled on a highly contested match, Petra Kvitova advanced past Venus Williams, 5-7 7-6 7-5. It was a sensational effort by both competitors in a match with plenty of high-level points. At the end of the day, a handful of those points separated the players after two and a half hours of tennis. Kvitova, who played from behind for much of the match, was more successful on her serve, firing 11 aces in the contest. She had the ability to elevate her serve in key points. Her aggressive style produced 48 winners despite 34 unforced errors. The Czech paid credit to her opponent afterwards, “I was really trying and fighting on every point because that’s what you have to do against her.”

With the upsets in her portion of the draw, the 2011 champion has become the favorite to advance to the semifinals with a potential match with Caroline Wozniacki looming in the quarterfinals. However, the No. 6 seed must first defeat Peng Shuai of China in the round of 16 as the tournament turns toward the second week. Despite the loss and continual questions regarding her future, Williams played her best match in a Grand Slam in quite some time in the losing effort. Much of her championship form surfaced in the match.

Li Na Falls

Australian Open Champion Li Na fell to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 7-6 7-6 on Friday. The No. 2 seed never looked comfortable against the veteran Czech as she struggled with her serve and gave away 37 unforced errors to go with seven double faults. To add insult to injury, Li had a set point on her racket in the second set but failed to capitalize. Grass has never been the China native's signature surface, with her best result being three quarterfinal appearances at Wimbledon.

However, Strycova was thrilled at the result,  “I'm very happy. I played a really good match. You go on court and have to believe in yourself,” she said.

Halep Tested but Through

It took three sets, but French Open runner-up Simona Halep advanced past Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine 6-3 4-6 6-4 and will move on to the third round. The third seed dished out an inconsistent performance on Friday, mixing shots that reflected her rise to the world top five while looking very average at other times. Halep appeared to struggle with Tsurenko's power at times but showed the ability to battle through adversity, which has become a signature trait of the young Romanian. And while it was not an elegant performance, it's gritty nature was effective and a work of art in its own right.

Halep clearly breathed a big sigh of relief after she finally captured the match, which included two blown match points against the world no. 170 before she finally closed. She felt the rain delay affected her performance, “I didn't play my best today. I played badly. It's not easy to wait two days for a match,” Halep said. She will move on to face 17-year-old Belinda Bencic next and expects a battle. “Tomorrow will be a little bit tough because I heard she's a good player and she's strong,” Halep stated.

Door Opens for Wozniacki

16th seed Caroline Wozniacki rolled through her third-round match against Ana Konjuh of Croatia, winning 6-3 6-0. The Dane took advantage of a poor serving day from Konjuh and played a crisp match, yielding just four unforced errors on the day.

Despite success on the court, Wozniacki is continually forced to address her highly publicized split with professional golfer Rory McIlroy. But she insists her game is where it needs to be, “To play good tennis, your head has to be there,” she said. “I'm in a good place in my head right now. I think that shows on court as well. When I'm out there, it's a yellow ball, white lines, it's about playing it over the net and inside the lines more than your opponent.” Wozniacki became the first woman into the round of 16, and her path became easier with the departure of Li Na.

Radwanska Rolls, Cibulkova Falls 

Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska continued her impressive play during the fortnight with a 6-2 6-0 victory over Michelle Larcher De Brito of Portugal. Radwanska has played consistently clean tennis to this point with very minimal errors. On Friday, she struck just six unforced errors and, despite struggling on her service games, advanced in just 57 minutes.

Meanwhile, 10th seed Dominika Cibulkova was not so lucky, struggling on the grass surface once again. However, this time she was unable to fight through and fell 6-4 6-2 to 23rd seed Lucie Safarova. The Australian Open finalist was not at her best this week in London, never appearing completely comfortable on the surface. She will turn her attention to the American hard courts, a surface she should excel on.