Cull of women’s seeds complete

THE last of the women’s top-10 seeds has been knocked out at Wimbledon.

Kiki Bertens followed up her win over Venus Williams by beating No. 7 Karolina Pliskova — the highest-seeded female remaining — yesterday to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.

Since seeds were introduced in the 1920s, it’s the first time none of the top-10 have reached the women’s quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

It’s also a first for any Grand Slam tournament in the 50-year professional era. Seven-time champion Serena Williams is seeded 25th after missing out last year due to being pregnant, but the American raced into her 13th Wimbledon quarterfinal after thrashing Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina 6-2, 6-2 in just 62 minutes on Centre Court.

Williams, who won the Wimbledon title on her last two visits in 2015 and 2016, is now on an 18-match winning streak at London’s All England Club.

The 36-year-old faces Camila Giorgi for a place in the semifinals. The Italian beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-4.

Roger Federer charged through in the men’s draw, advancing to a recordextending 16th Wimbledon quarterfinal with a 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Adrian Mannarino of France.

The eight-time champion lost just five points in a 16-minute first set but faced break points for the first time in this year’s tournament, saving all four. Federer has now won 32 consecutive sets at Wimbledon to move within one straight-sets victory of breaking his previous longest streak at the All England Club, when he won 34 in a row between the third round in 2005 and the final in 2006.

Bertens hit seven aces and saved eight of the 10 break points she faced to win — against Pliskova and complete the latest upset in the women’s draw.

She beat ninth-seeded Venus Williams in the third round after coming from a break down in the third set.

Bertens next faces 13th-seeded Julia Goerges, who beat Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-3, 6-2 to secure her first Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance.

Jelena Ostapenko and Dominika Cibulkova will also meet in the last 8.

Ostapenko reached the quarterfinals for the second straight year with a 7-6 (4), 6-0 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, while Cibulkova beat Hsieh Su-wei 6-4, 6-1. Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh had upset top seed Simona Halep in the previous round

Kiki Bertens serves to Czech 7th seed Karolina Pliskova during their Wimbledon fourth-round match at the All England Club in London yesterday. The Dutchwoman won 6-3, 7-6 (2) to knock out the last remaining top-10 women’s seed. — Reuters