FEDERER, SERENA SAIL THROUGH, BERTENS STUNS PLISKOVA AT WIMBLEDON
Top-seed reaches quarter-finals; Serena clinches 18th win in a row at Wimbledon
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 quarter-final on Monday.
Eight-time champion Federer will be playing in his 53rd Grand Slam last-eight when he tackles either Gael Monfils of France or Kevin Anderson, the eighth-seeded South African.
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 lefthander Mannarino.
“You always tend to play better against better players and I am happy to be back in the second week of Wimbledon.”
Federer boasts a 4-0 career record against 2017 US Open runner-up Anderson and 9-4 over Monfils. Monfils and Anderson have yet to get to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, although the French shotmaker may just be the slight favourite as he has a 50 winning record over the big South African.
Serena Williams raced into her 13th Wimbledon quarterfinal as the seven-time 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 18-match 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 semi-finals.
Asked if it was a flawless display, Serena admitted she is never satisfied. “I’m a perfectionist. I always find something wrong,” she said.
“It was an interesting match. She was hitting the ball well. That’s why she got this far. It was a good win but it was tougher than the scoreline to be honest.”
The 90th Wimbledon win of her career — the most among active female players — means Serena, currently 181st in the WTA rankings, will return to the top 100 next week. Williams had made a tentative return to action following complications during daughter Olympia’s birth, struggling in her few appearances before pulling out midway through the recent French Open with a pectoral injury.
But her blistering form and a series of shock results have paved the way for another Williams coronation at Wimbledon. Garbine Muguruza, Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki and Sloane Stephens have all been eliminated already.
It is the first time in Wimbledon history not one of the top 10 women’s seeds have reached the quarter-finals.
India’s Divij Sharan has reached the Grand Slam quarterfinals for the first time in his career as he combined with Artem Sitak to stage yet another dramatic comeback after being by down by two sets to defeat Jonathan Erlich and Marcin Matkowski. Sharan and New Zealand's Sitak prevailed 1-6 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4 6-4 over the Isralei-Polish combination after a gruelling men’s doubles third round.
Reaching the third rounds at Australian Open this year and at French Open (2017) and US Open (2013) was the best performance for the lefthander till Monday’s win.
Bertens stuns Pliskova
World No. 20 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands battled to a straight-set upset win over World No. 8 Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), reaching the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon tennis championships for first time in her career.
The 26-year-old beat Pliskova, a former world No 1 who was the last Top 10 player left in this year’s edition of the tournament.
Bertens is set to take on World No. 13 Julia Goerges of Germany, who beat World No. 55 Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-3, 6-2. Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko also advanced to the last eight stage after she defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 7-6 (7-4), 6-0.