Serena Williams closes on grand slams milestone

Serena Williams is just two matches away from equalling the women’s record for the most grand slam wins.

Williams has 23 grand slams under her belt, just one away from Australian player Margaret Court’s record of 24, which has stood since the 1970s.

Standing in her way on Thursday afternoon is Czech player Barbora Strycova, with the pair due to face one another on Centre Court.

Williams and Strycova will be second to play after Elina Svitolina versus Simona Halep.

Elsewhere, wild card mixed doubles team Evan Hoyt and Eden Silva and the last ones standing for the UK.

Their quarter-final match against Croatian Ivan Dodig and Taiwan’s Latisha Chan is scheduled for the evening, although the court has yet to be chosen.

The 10th day of the tournament will also see the start of the wheelchair event, with British number two Andy Lapthorne revealing tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios is a dab hand at the sport.

The 28-year-old said: “Not many people can move the chair and hit the ball when they first get in the chair but Nick was punching the balls – he seems to be able to pick stuff up really quickly.”

A spokesman for the Met Office said: “We’re looking at quite a cloudy start for tomorrow with a low risk of the odd spot of rain.

“It will soon brighten up with sunshine breaking through the clouds then brighter skies during the afternoon with the risk of a few showers from mid-afternoon into the evening.

“It’s a fairly low risk though – just a 20% to 30% chance, with that easing over the course of the evening.”

He said it was likely to be quite a humid day, with a top temperature of 26C.