Big guns make quarterfinals
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 earned his latest win with maximum efficiency on Centre Court yesterday, particularly during a
16-minute first set, where the topseeded Federer lost just five points.
The 22nd-seeded Mannarino became the first man to earn a break point against Federer at the tournament, but was unable to take any of his four opportunities.
Federer has won 32 consecutive sets at Wimbledon to move within one straight-sets victory of breaking his previous longest streak at the All England Club, 34 in a row from the third round in
2005 to the final in 2006.
‘‘I didn’t miss much so I was very happy with the match,’’ the eight-times champion said after booking a last-eight date with South African Kevin Anderson.
Anderson advanced to his first Wimbledon quarterfinal after edging Gael Monfils 7-6(4) 7-6(2)
5-7 7-6(4).
Rafael Nadal reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time since 2011. The topranked Spaniard beat Jiri Vesely
6-3 6-3 6-4 to return to the last eight for the first time since he was runner-up to Novak Djokovic in 2011.
Serena Williams is back in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the
13th time after beating Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina 6-4 6-2.
In a matchup of the only two mothers remaining in the draw, Williams led 3-0 in both sets and claimed the win in 62 minutes.
‘‘It was tougher than the scoreline,’’ Williams said.
‘‘I knew we were both mums, 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.’’
The last of the women’s top-10 seeds has been knocked out. Kiki Bertens followed up her win over Venus Williams by beating No 7 Karolina Pliskova to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.
Bertens hit seven aces and saved eight of the 10 break points she faced to win 6-3 7-6(2) and complete the latest upset in the women’s draw.
Jelena Ostapenko advanced to a second consecutive Wimbledon quarterfinal with a 7-6(4) 6-0 victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
The 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko lost her first two service games and went 5-2 down in the opening set before rallying to force a tiebreaker against her Belarussian opponent.
The 12th-seeded Ostapenko was aggressive throughout, hitting 28 winners – 13 coming off her backhand.
The Latvian player also reached the quarterfinals last year in her best Wimbledon showing, losing to eventual runner-up Venus Williams.