Williams, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic reach quarterfinals at Wimbledon
Not one top-10 seed has made the women’s quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Serena Williams will be there, though, after she moved a step closer to an eighth title at the All England Club.
Williams reached her 13th Wimbledon quarterfinal by beating Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina 6-4, 6-2 yesterday, and never looked likely to join the parade of favourites who have been eliminated.
No. 7 Karolina Pliskova became the last of the top-10 seeds to be knocked out, losing to Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.
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.
Williams is seeded 25th after returning from having a baby, but is looking like her usual dominant self on the grass courts. In a matchup of the only two mothers remaining in the draw, she jumped into a 3-0 lead in both sets and wrapped up the win in 62 minutes.
Rodina, who upset 10th-seeded Madison Keys in the previous round, broke back for 3-2 in the second set but was broken to love straight away.
“It was tougher than the scoreline,” Williams said. “I knew we were both moms, and I’m not sure how often that’s happened, if ever. So it’s really cool. You can be a mom, you can still play tennis and you can still be great.”
In the men’s tournament, Roger Federer advanced to a record-extending 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.
Also through was Rafael Nadal reaching the quarterfinals for the first time since 2011.
The top-ranked Spaniard beat Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court to return to the last eight for the first time since he was runner-up to Novak Djokovic in 2011.
Nadal, a two-time champion at the All England Club, has yet to drop a set in this tournament. He was down a break in the third set but broke right back for 3-3 and then converted his third match point when Vesely missed a backhand.
Kevin Anderson also advanced to his first Wimbledon quarterfinal after edging Gael Monfils 7-6 (4), 76 (2), 5-7, 7-6 (4).
The eighth-seeded Anderson hit 20 aces on his way to setting up a last-eight meeting with defending champion Roger Federer.
Anderson, who reached his first Grand Slam final at the 2017 US Open, had lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon on three previous occasions.
Ninth-seeded American John Isner, No. 13 Milos Raonic of Canada and No. 24 Kei Nishikori of Japan also advanced.
Isner rode his big serve to beat Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas 64, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (4). He next faces Raonic, who defeated Mackenzie McDonald of the U.S. 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2.
Later, Novak Djokovic also reached the last eight after defeating K. Khachanov of Russia 6-4, 62 6-2. And the Del Potro-Simon match was suspended after three sets with Del Potro leading 7-6 7-6 5-7.
Bertens hit seven aces and saved eight of the 10 break points she faced to win 6-3, 7-6 (2) against Pliskova and complete the latest upset in the women’s draw. She beat the 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 today’s quarterfinals.
Ostapenko reached the last eight for the second straight year with a 7-6 (4), 6-0 victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, while Cibulkova beat Hsieh Su-Wei 6-4, 6-1.
Williams faces Camila Giorgi of Italy next, while 11th-seeded Angelique Kerber plays Daria Kasatkina of Russia.