Pliskova to No. 1 for 1st time despite early exit at Wimbledon
HOWARD FENDRICH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Karolina Pliskova will rise to No. 1 in the WTA rankings for the first time next week despite a second-round loss at Wimbledon — and no Grand Slam titles.
Pliskova, a 25-year-old from the Czech Republic, was assured of moving up two places from No. 3 when the woman who currently is No. 2, Simona Halep, was beaten in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Pliskova will become the 23rd woman to spend time at No. 1.
Angelique Kerber will relinquish the top spot after exiting in the fourth round at the All England Club a year after making it to the final. Kerber first got to No. 1, overtaking Serena Williams, by winning the U.S. Open last September, beating Pliskova in the final.
Pliskova reached her second major semifinal at the French Open last month, losing to Halep there.
After losing to 87th-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 at the All England Club last week, Pliskova was asked about the possibility of still being able to go to No. 1. Rybarikova advanced to the semifinals Tuesday.
“Well, for me, the tournament is over. So whatever happens, happens,” Pliskova said. “I’m not going to pray for somebody’s losing or winning.”
The rankings count points from the preceding 52 weeks, and in that time, Pliskova won four WTA titles and has nine victories over top-10 opponents. She also leads the tour in aces since 2015.
“I feel she deserves to be there. She has the best serve, I think, after Serena,” Halep said. “So, ‘well done’ to her. She played really well this year.”
Halep would have been the new rankings leader if she had been able to get to the Wimbledon semifinals. Instead, she lost to Johanna Konta 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4.
It was the second Grand Slam tournament in a row that Halep fell one match win short of making her debut at No. 1.
A victory in the French Open final would have allowed the Romanian to get there, but she couldn’t get past Jelena Ostapenko that time.
“Of course, one of my goals is to get to No. 1. But I had another chance here. I was close, I could say,” Halep said Tuesday. “But doesn’t affect me that much, because I think I have many years ahead. So maybe I will have more chances. I’m close, so I have just to keep working.”
With every victory at Wimbledon this week, Johanna Konta is teaching the British public more and more about its tennis history.
Tuesday’s lesson involved Virginia Wade, the previous British woman to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon. Not too coincidentally, Wade was sitting in the Royal Box watching as Konta beat Simona Halep 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4 to match that feat.
“I guess to be in the semifinals of my home Slam, and to do that in front of a full Centre Court, I mean, it’s pretty, pretty special,” Konta said.
The sixth-seeded Konta was the first British woman to reach the quarterfinals at the All England Club since Jo Durie in 1984. She is now the first since Wade in 1978 to reach the semifinals.
Wade made the final that year, but lost to Chris Evert. Wade won the title a year earlier, however.
“I’m just surprised it’s taken so long,” Wade said. “It’s fine to be the last British women’s winner to win Wimbledon, but it’s better to have plenty of British players to win. It’s a win-win situation, frankly, and I’m thrilled for her.”
Konta will next face Venus Williams on Thursday for a spot in the final. Williams is a fivetime Wimbledon champion who is playing in the semifinals at the All England Club for the 10th time in her 20th appearance.
Konta has won three of her five previous matches against Williams, but the American took the last one on clay at the Italian Open in May.
At the Australian Open last year, Konta reached her only pervious major semifinal, beating Williams in the first round.
“We’ve had a few battles in the past,” Konta said. “She’s got the better of me the last time we played, so I’m really looking forward to playing her.”
One thing Konta will be able to rely on again in the semifinals will be another enthusiastic home crowd. On Tuesday, that enthusiasm led to a bizarre moment on match point when someone screamed and appeared to distract Halep.
On Thursday, back on Centre Court, Konta will get to experience it all over again.
SAMUEL PETREQUIN and JOHN LEICESTER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BERGERAC, France — Marcel Kittel has no serious challenger for the King of the Sprint title at this year’s Tour de France.
The German sprinter won the 10th stage with remarkable ease on Tuesday, while Chris Froome stayed safely in the main pack to retain the race leader’s yellow jersey.
Kittel perfectly timed his effort in the final straight to post his fourth stage win since the start of the race, crossing the line ahead of fellow German John Degenkolb.
The stage took the peloton on a flat, 178-km run from Perigueux to Bergerac in southwestern France.
Froome, the three-time Tour champion, will be wear the yellow jersey for the 50th time on Wednesday — joining five-time Tour winner Jacques Anquetil in fourth place on the all-time list behind Eddy Merckx (96), Bernard Hinault (75), and Miguel Indurain (60.)
“A huge, huge honour,” the British rider said of the 50 days in yellow.
Kittel was in 10th place after negotiating the two sharp corners of a challenging final kilometre, before turning on the power to surge ahead of his rivals with 150 metres left and securing his 13th career win on the Tour.
He won by a bike’s length and had plenty of time to raise his arms in celebration before crossing the line.
Kittel said his confidence is high after his string of victories.
“I know now from the last sprints that I can hold that speed to the finish line,” he said. “I almost cannot believe what’s happening here at the Tour.”
Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen completed the podium in the medieval town.
With Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan and Arnaud Demare out of the race, Kittel strengthened his grip on the best sprinter’s green jersey. French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni, who had to settle for a sixth-place finish, acknowledged Kittel’s superiority.
“Kittel was the strongest, he came from behind,” Bouhanni said. “He won four sprints out of five, he is the best sprinter of this Tour.”
After a plane journey across France and a rest day, the race resumed in Perigueux for a flat ride through the lush landscapes of the Dordogne province in southwestern France.
Following a hectic stage in the Jura on Sunday and with two hard stages in the Pyrenees mountains later this week, Froome and his main rivals were happy to let two French riders with no ambitions for the overall race lead escape from the pack.
Yoann Offredo went on his own immediately after the race director waved the flag to signal the start. He was joined soon afterward by Elie Gesbert, the youngest rider in the peloton at 22 years old, and the pair quickly opened a gap.
Their lead stabilized at about five minutes as the peloton moved past the Lascaux cave, a prehistoric World Heritage site featuring some superb hunting scenes. Secondplace Fabio Aru was all smiles near Domme — a picturesque town perched on a breathtaking cliff above the Dordogne river — and shook hands with another rider at a pedestrian pace.
“We chatted, admired the countryside. It was very pleasant,” Warren Barguil said, summing up the day.
Toward the end, the sprinters’ teams organized the chase, reducing the deficit of the peloton to a little more than two minutes with 40 km left. Offredo and Gesbert fought hard until the end, but were hampered by a strong headwind and were caught seven kilometres from the finish.
There was no major change in the overall standings, with Aru still trailing 18 seconds behind Froome and Frenchman Romain Bardet in third place, 51 seconds back.
“It was a more quite day today, without wind, no stress,” Froome said. “I’m already thinking about the Pyrenees, it’s the next big goal, I’ll need to be ready.”
Wednesday’s stage is a flat and long 203.5-km route from Eymet to Pau. It will be another day for the sprinters before a mountain marathon of more than 200 km the next day.