HOBBLED, hurting and essentially playing on one leg, Serena Williams managed to gut out a three-set victory at Wimbledon on Monday.

Williams crumpled to the grass in the second set with a left calf injury, was treated on court, then kept on playing, barely able to move. And she won, prolonging her bid for a third title at the All England Club by getting past No. 10-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal showdown against No. 1 Justine Henin.

“I thought about not finishing, but very briefly. I thought I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I hadn’t at least tried,” the No. 7 Williams said. “I’ve never dealt with such pain. I can’t believe — I can’t believe I won, really.”

Serena’s older sister Venus double-faulted 14 times, faced 23 break points, trailed 5-3 in the final set and still figured out a way to beat Akiko Morigami of Japan 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in a match suspended because of rain Saturday.

“Two crazy matches,” said the sisters’ mother, Oracene Price, summing up her daughters’ day. “I’ve got to say, they’ve got fight. If they don’t have nothing else, they’ve got fight.”

Asked about the matchup against Henin, Serena sidestepped looking ahead, saying, “Getting through today is great. That’s the only thing I’m focused on right now.” Other third-round winners included 16-year-old Tamira Paszek of Austria, French Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic and 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Meanwhile, four men reached the fourth round: No. 7 Tomas Berdych, No. 10 Marcos Baghdatis, No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny and 35-year-old Jonas Bjorkman, who eliminated 36-year-old Wayne Arthurs 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in the first match between men that old at Wimbledon since 1974.

(SD-Agencies)