Venus eclipsed in record cull of the top seeds
If Wimbledon loses any more seeds then Kew Gardens will need to order an investigation. Venus Williams, the ninth seed, became the latest high-profile casualty, conquered by Kiki Bertens in a threeset thriller that will rank as one of the matches of the tournament.
Williams was the eighth member of the original top 10 seeds to depart, an unprecedented defenestration of the tournament’s leading lights. Only Karolina Pliskova and top seed Simona Halep, who plays Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei today, remain in the tournament.
Never before in the Open era at Wimbledon have fewer than four of the top 10 made the second week, although, of course, there is the familiar threat of seven-time champion Serena Williams.
Nevertheless, the destruction of old stars often begets the birth of new ones and Bertens, of Holland, who also reached the third round two years ago, will hope to build on the considerable momentum of her 6-2, 6-7, 8-6 victory over last year’s finalist.
“I feel more like that I belong here,” Bertens said. “I was really hungry to go on court and play for it, play for the fourth round. I think two years ago I was more happy to be in the third round, just trying to play a good match, trying to not lose 6-0, 6-0. That was it.”
Even if the quality was not always of a consistently high standard, that was more than compensated by the drama of such a see-saw contest. Williams, the grand old dame of Wimbledon, found herself on the brink more often than a Chequers cabinet discussion, preventing Bertens serving for the match in the second set and saving two match points in the third.
Call it the experience of a fivetime champion, call it the psychological resilience of having to battle a debilitating auto-immune disease, call it sheer, bloody refusal to countenance defeat. Yet on the third match point, Williams finally blinked, sending a backhand into the net as Bertens sank to her knees in a mixture of relief and exhaustion after a 2hr 40min epic.
Bertens, one of several claycourt specialists who seem to have prospered on the harder, bouncier surfaces this year, showed plenty of Dutch courage to take the fight to Williams from the off. She showed zero respect to the Williams second serve, which averaged only 88mph, and was not afraid to go toe-to-toe from the baseline.
Williams was broken three times in the opening set but slow starts have been a common theme for her at these Championships having also dropped the first set in her opening matches against Johanna Larsson and Alexandra Dulgheru. She was another break down in the second, with Bertens two points away from serving out the match, when Williams rediscovered her fire.
There is some previous here, too. At the Miami Open this year, Bertens passed up match points against Williams, and several old wounds were reopened as three consecutive unforced errors allowed Williams to break back and take the tie-break with ease. “That [Miami] was going into my mind sometimes during the match,” Bertens said. “I just kept telling myself that I had a chance today again. I’m like, ‘OK, c’mon, let’s do this.’ She’s such a great player. She keeps on believing, keeps on playing her shots, so it’s really tough. I could not finish the second set. But I was like, OK, just keep on trying, keep on going. Still anything can happen.”