Three days after beating Venus Williams and helping to end the umpire Ted Watts's Wimbledon, Karolina Sprem yesterday beat another less famous American, Meghann Shaughnessy, to secure a place in the last 16. The Croatian dispatched her with the same authority with which she dismissed Williams and by the same scoreline, 7-6, 7-6.
With most of the People's Sunday queuers still having their picnic baskets rummaged through at the gates, Sprem went about her business on an almost empty Court Two, but if it felt like a comedown she didn't let it show. Instead of an enthralled Centre Court she was surrounded by bored-looking ballkids and linesmen, presumably making a mental checklist of all the things they could otherwise have been doing on a sunny Sunday morning.
Sprem's win was all the more impressive for the lack of atmosphere, for it confirmed that the 19-year-old is no one-match wonder, unable to play as well when the spotlight is off and ready to succumb to the giant-killers' curse of winning a big match and then losing a little one immediately afterwards.
"It was tough to go on court after such a big win against Venus," she said. "Before I went to sleep after that match I just said, 'It's a big win for you but you need to forget this. Tomorrow is a new day.'"
It turned out to be an even better one, for this time she managed to keep a tight grip both on Shaughnessy and on the scoreline, which was probably a good thing given the criticism she received for neglecting to mention to Watts that he had inadvertently given her a point she should not have had against Williams during the second-set tie-break of their second-round match on Thursday.
"I was confused; I didn't know what was happening," Sprem protested with a sigh, having been asked about it for what must have felt like the thousandth time. "It was a really big moment for me and we have so many people on the court who are supposed to know the score. Anyway, this is behind me and I don't want to talk about this."
She was far keener to talk about the fact that she had just beaten an experienced and adept former top-20 player in Shaughnessy, who was playing her ninth Wimbledon to Sprem's second.
Sprem looked a little surprised at finding herself in the second week of Wimbledon - the first time she has gone past the second round of any grand slam - but off court she has the air of one who always expected to get there eventually. For all the smiles and giggles as she has charmed her way through her post-match press conferences, there is a flintiness about her to which both Williams and Shaughnessy can bear witness.
Having blown a large, Venus-shaped hole in her section of the draw she is now poised to clamber through it and on to the latter stages. A winnable last-16 match against Magdalena Maleeva beckons today and by the time this week is out she may be famous for something other than not knowing the score against Williams.
"I was practising well and I knew that I can do this, that I can play the good tennis. I showed that I can play good tennis here on the Wimbledon," she said.
Serena Williams ripped through the doughty, stocky Spaniard Magui Serna 6-4, 6-0 as though anxious to send a reminder that she fully intends to add to her brace of Wimbledon titles by winning again this year.
Unsurprisingly for a player who spends her spare time notching up movie roles and carving out a parallel career as a TV star, Williams revelled in the emotionally charged Centre Court crowd, still hoarse from cheering on Tim Henman. They added an electricity which the match barely warranted.
What Jennifer Capriati might have given for the same atmosphere on Court One, where she opened the day's tennis to thousands of empty seats. "I was surprised that it was a little bit empty when I first went out there but I guess it was just taking a while to get them in," she said politely.
Capriati recently ended her short-lived coaching arrangement with Steffi Graf's old coach Heinz Günthardt and has asked, for now at least, that her father Stefano stays at home in Florida and lets her get on with life on her own.
"It's something I've been thinking about for a while," she said. "I'm 28 years old and I think I can handle it. I just want to try and give myself every possible option and every chance to win Wimbledon."
Amélie Mauresmo has yet to win a grand slam title but harbours similar ambitions. She earned herself a fourth-round place yesterday with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Ludmila Cervanova.