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London  - Serena Williams went down with leg cramps, recovered during a long rain break and was denied a late-match bathroom break before finally scratching into the fourth round at Wimbledon on a rain-plagued Monday.

 The two-time, seventh-seeded champion managed to somehow hang on against the odds to post a 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2 win over a shell- shocked Daniela Hantuchova.

 The American will next face top seed Justine Henin, who easily rolled passed Swiss Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-2 with an efficient no- nonsense win earlier in the long day.

 Williams took intensive treatment over the course of two hours in one of the frequent rain interruptions which plagued the start of the second week, and halted this match in the middle of the second-set tiebreaker. Williams came back to finish the tiebreak and move through to victory in the third set.

 "I've never dealt with such pain," said Williams. "I can't believe I won."

   "I was definitely saved by the rain (interruption). I couldn't move before (that). I had a very bad acute muscle spasm in my left calf," she said. "I think I was crying at one point."

   Henin needed just 56 minutes to move ahead after a rainy start to the day.

 "I was a little bit surprised that the match was that quick, I was ready to have a good fight," said the Belgian. "It was pretty tough conditions out there: very windy. But I could keep control of the match."

   Second-week play began amid scenes of unprecedented security after the weekend terror threat in Britain.

 Among left-over third-round contests, number five Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 6-2, 6-3.

 French Open finalist Ana Ivanovic finished off a match interrupted by rain 48 hours earlier, winning a held-over second set to defeat Aravane Rezai of France 6-3, 6-2.

 Austrian 16-year-old Tamira Paszek, coached by Larri Passos who took Gustavo Kuerten to three French Open titles, upset 12th seed Elena Dementieva 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

 Monday's programme was finally suspended with the event in danger of falling behind schedule by an evening rainstorm, which sent men's second seed Rafael Nadal off court locked in a fifth set with Swede Robin Soderling.

 The Spaniard had been stung after missing a match point in the third-set tiebreaker on an unsuccessful challenge to the electronic line-calling system.

 Second seed Nadal led Soderling 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 4-6, 2-0 in the third round. The eventual winner will be faced with another match on Wednesday as the event struggles to get on track after a week of weather interruptions.

 Meanwhile, four-time winner Roger Federer had another idle day of indoor practise after reaching the quarter-finals without firing a shot when German opponent Tommy Haas withdrew with a torn abdominal muscle on Sunday's rest day.

 Federer has not played a match since Friday as he bids to equal Bjorn Borg (1976-80) on five straight Wimbledon titles.

 Men's third-round winners included Czech Tomas Berdych and number 10 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who beat Argentinian David Nalbandian Argentina 6-2, 7-5, 6-0. Russian Mikhail Youzhny came through against Finn Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

 Seeds left stranded by the rain: Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko and 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt.- DPA