Serena, Federer reach Wimbledon quarterfinals
London, July 9: Roger Federer needed just 16 minutes to win the opening set in a 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 defeat of France’s Adrian Mannarino to reach his 16th Wimbledon quarterfinal on Monday.
Top seed Federer, 36, has now won 32 consecutive sets at Wimbledon, just two behind his record set from the third round in 2005 to his title triumph in 2006.
“It was crucial for him to stay in the match at the beginning of the second set and then it got tougher,” said Federer after his sixth win in six meetings against French left-hander Mannarino.
Big-serving Milos Raonic fired 37 aces and 74 winners to defeat Mackenzie McDonald of the United States and reach the quarter-finals for the fourth time.
The 27-year-old Canadian, who was runner-up to Andy Murray in 2016, triumphed 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2.
18 IN A ROW FOR SERENA
Serena Williams raced into her 13th Wimbledon quarter-final as the seventime champion thrashed Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina 6-2, 6-2 in just 62 minutes.
Williams, who won the Wimbledon title on her last two visits in 2015 and 2016, is now on an 18match winning streak at the All England Club.
Having missed Wimbledon last year while she prepared to have her first child in September, Serena is in pole position to win her first Grand Slam crown since becoming a mother.
The 36-year-old faces Italian world number 52 Camila Giorgi on Tuesday for a place in the semifinals.
Giorgi advanced to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Russian world number 35 Ekaterina Makarova.
Later, Dominika Cibulkova launched a scathing attack on Wimbledon’s officials after a line call controversy marred her 6-4, 6-1 rout of Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei.
Cibulkova was furious when Hsieh successfully persuaded the umpire to replay a point that was initially called in the Slovakian’s favour and would have given her three set points in the opening set.
Hsieh’s protests to the umpire prompted the match referee to come on court to intervene as the argument lasted almost seven minutes before the point was finally replayed, much to Cibulkova’s disgust. Cibulkova faces Latvian 12th seed Jelena Ostapenko, a former French Open champion, for a place in the semifinals.
Julia Goerges is through to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time after the German 13th seed beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-2 on Monday.
Goerges takes on Dutch 20th seed Kiki Bertens for a place in the semi-finals.
Bertens knocked out the last top 10 seed in the women’s singles at Wimbledon as the Dutch world number 20 stunned Karolina Pliskova with a 63, 7-6 (7/1) victory in the fourth round.