VENUS Williams might not know which day of the week it is, but she knows her way round the Wimbledon fortnight well enough. A straight-sets victory over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, the last Spaniard in the women’s draw, took the defending champion comfortably into the fourth round, reducing the odds on an all-Williams singles final on Saturday.

With the fall of Maria Sharap-ova and Ana Ivanovic, the top seed, and Jelena Jankovic, the second seed, victorious but hobbling off centre court, a third final between Serena and Venus is taking on an air of inevitability, though neither has yet reached peak form. Alisa Kleybanova, an 18-year-old from Moscow, is Venus’s next opponent, while Jankovic, if she survives, will present a major obstacle in the quarter-final.

Williams ended both sets with an ace yesterday, the second timed at 127mph, not just an emphatic end to the match but also a Wimbledon record. Venus equalled her sister’s record of 126mph last year on the way to winning her fourth title and has now edged to within 2mph of her own world record, set last year in the US Open.

As the speeds are often suspect, this says nothing other than Venus is beginning to find her rhythm after a season hit by injury and loss of confidence. Like Pete Sampras before her, she is becoming a Wimbledon specialist, peaking for the one tournament she believes is her birthright.

It was difficult to tell the exact state of the champion’s game on Court 1. The strapping 25-year-old Spaniard took 23 minutes to cast off her understandable nerves, forfeiting the first five games in 17 minutes, and journeyed deep into the second set before she really began to mount some resistance.

Whatever the Spanish term for journeyman is, it applies to Martinez Sanchez, who has the misfortune to have not one but two Grand Slam champions in her surname. She is, though, a decent doubles player and a series of acute angled backhand volleys and one sweet stop-volley, feathered over the net as Williams was rooted to the base-line, showed a touch of real class. A rout was turned, however briefly, into a contest.

From 2-4 down in the second set, the world No 101 broke back to lead 5-4, giving a passable imitation of Manolo Santana, albeit female and left-handed (but how many other Spanish serve-and-volleyers can you remember?) The crowd responded with understandable fervour, no reflection of their indifference to the champion, just an appreciation of the Spaniard’s belated bravado.

“She changed her strategy,” said Williams. “She made her shots and that was good for her.” Up to a point. The unexpected show of resilience prompted a feisty response from Williams.

Instead of being thrown onto the back foot by the onrushing 5ft 9in Murcian, Williams simply lifted her own game out of reach as if waiting for the challenge.

Martinez Sanchez had to save four break points in the ninth game of the second set, but having edged ahead, barely had time to twitch as two aces smacked against the awning behind her.

Williams held for 5-5 and broke decisively in the next game with the help of some raking service returns and a double-fault by the Spaniard. Four points and two aces later, it was all over 6-1 7-5; Venus was dancing on the court, acknowledging the standing ovation.

A tally of 11 aces and six double-faults suggests that the older of the Williams sisters is already eyeing more distant horizons in this tournament. In contrast to her patchy performance against Anne Keothavong in the previous round, there was real venom – and a degree of accuracy - in her groundstrokes off both wings. The whole package was, predictably, all too much for Martinez Sanchez, who can nevertheless be content.

“I’m actually never trying to serve that hard, if that makes sense,” said Williams, when told of her record-breaking service speed. “It just comes big. It’s just how I serve, it’s just me.

“But, yeah, 127 is a good way to end it.”

The problem for the tournament, if the two Williamses continue their collision course, is that their matches are rarely things of beauty or, even, interest. But Venus is getting her bearings again. Yesterday, she admitted that she woke up and knew only that it was the third round of Wimbledon, not that it was a Saturday. Now she has disposed of a fraught first week, the date with centre court scheduled for this coming Saturday can be outlined in ink.