Highlights of funny Monday at Wimbledon
LONDON — It won’t quite be Manic Monday at Wimbledon, but close.
The second Monday at the Grand Slam tournament has been dubbed that previously because all remaining players in the singles draw usually play their fourth-round matches on that day after a rest day on Sunday.
But with rain stopping third round play Saturday for nearly five hours on all but the covered Centre Court, several matches were either postponed or suspended. So only 30 singles players will hit the courts at the All England Club on Monday and several others will have the day off.
Here are five other things to know about the seventh day of play at Wimbledon:
Cornet’s Surprise
If Serena Williams had read the form guide ahead of her third-round match with Alize Cornet, she might have had reason not to take the Frenchwoman’s chances of beating her seriously. But Cornet will play Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount on Monday and Williams is out of singles. It’s only Cornet’s second fourthround appearance in 34 Grand Slams (the 2009 Australian Open is the other). Cornet had never previously defeated a top 20 player in a major.
Streaks Meet
Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion who has won 22 of 23 matches since April, including the French Open final, plays Angelique Kerber of Germany, who is 7-1 so far this grass-court season, including the final at Eastbourne. Sharapova is attempting the French Open-Wimbledon clay-grass double for the second time, having lost in the fourth round here in 2012 after winning at Roland Garros a few weeks earlier. “Of course, the transition, it’s no secret, it’s very difficult,” Sharapova says. “But I’m quite happy with the way I’ve gone about things so far.”
Tsonga Redemption?
Novak Djokovic goes into his match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with a sore left arm after a fall in Friday’s match against another Frenchman, Gilles Simon. Djokovic says ultrasounds show no major issues, despite at first thinking he had dislocated his shoulder. The last time the two played, Tsonga won just six games at the French Open earlier this month in a fourth-round loss. He hasn’t beaten Djokovic in 10 matches.
Frustrating Times
China’s Peng Shuai plays 2011 champion Petra Kvitova trying to end her drought in quarter-finals at Grand Slam tournaments. Peng is playing in her 36th major and her best results are five fourth-round appearances, three of them at Wimbledon. The 28-yearold Peng has 12 career doubles titles but none in singles despite playing in five finals.
Long Match
Kei Nishikori and Simone Bolelli will resume their marathon third-round match level 3-3 in the fifth set. Officially, the current match time is 2 hours, 55 minutes. The pair walked on court about 1 p.m. Saturday after the start of play was delayed 90 minutes by rain, played only a few games before play was stopped due to more showers, then the match was suspended because of darkness. They’ll resume at 11 a.m. Monday, which will quickly put the match time over three hours. But taking into account Sunday’s day off at Wimbledon, the start-to-finish time of the match will stretch to nearly 48 hours.