Tennis warrior Serena Williams played through the pain of a calf strain to fight, battle and scrap her way into the quarter-finals, defeating Daniela Hantuchova in a rain-marred match of tension, drama and high excitement on Centre Court.
The rain which periodically halted the excitement undoubtedly rescued the seventh-seeded Williams from elimination late in the second set when she was virtually playing her opponent on one leg.
With the score at 5-6 on her serve, the two-time champion dramatically collapsed on the baseline with what appeared to be cramp in the left leg but was later diagnosed as "a spasm-induced left calf strain". After the three-minute treatment time had elapsed, she resumed bandaged and hardly able to walk, wiping away tears of pain and possibly frustration.
Although, she was still - remarkably - making a contest of it and tigerishly held serve, the rain which began to fall persistently when she slipped 4-2 behind in the tie-break would have come as a blessed relief. Serena had her temporary reprieve and the medical team could get to work on patching her up for the next stage of the battle.
Play was not possible again for almost two hours, when Williams emerged in an all-white track suit, opting to keep the trousers on when play resumed.
The change of outfit was not enough to immediately change the course of the match as Hantuchova won the next three tie-break points to level the match.
But in the third set, a combination of Williams' guts and big-match experience saw her through to a famous victory, aided by Hantuchova's total loss of nerve.
Apparently unable to move from side to side, Williams somehow dredged up the will to chase shots and hit some incredible winners, though Hantuchova helped her injured opponent by repeating either putting the ball into her limited hitting zone or weakly out of play.
To add to the drama, Williams had a running disagreement with umpire Kader Nouni after she requested a mid-set bathroom break - explaining that she had been drinking a lot more than usual because of the effects of the injury - and was refused the concession at that stage. But the annoyance she clearly felt only seemed to spur her on to eventual 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 victory.
There had been no hint of the high drama to come when the match got under way at lunchtime. Only two games were possible before rain halted play and when the players returned after an hour and a half they were only able to warm up before being driven off once more by the weather.
When the two women got on court again an hour and a quarter later Williams at once took command, sweeping four games in a row and capturing the opening set in 26 minutes of elapsed playing time, using the changes of end to consult notes she had made for herself - such as "You are the BEST" and "You will win Wimbledon".
Hanthuchova briefly found a way to combat the raw power of Serena in the second set, taking a 4-1 lead before Serena began to pull back the deficit, breaking back to 5-5. It was at this point that she summoned the WTA trainer, Amber Donaldson, and requested salt tablets, indicating she might be fearing an onset of cramp.
Her fears were dramatically realised in the very next game and she made a pathetic sight, crumpled on the baseline and screaming in agony as ice was applied to her injury.
At that moment not many would have given her a chance of getting another match at the 2007 Championships, but the combination of rain and bravery saw her through to the last eight.
Match Statistics
Subscription Video (Live)