Kazakhstan’s wild card entry makes history
Absolutely perfect: 24 points played, 24 points won.
Can’t be any better than wildcard entry Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan was at the beginning of her third- round match at Wimbledon, winning every single point in the 15-minute first set of what became a 6-0, 6-4 victory over French Open runner- up Sara Errani of Italy.
It’s the only ‘‘golden set’’ for a woman in the 44 years of professional tennis.
Of all the ways a point can be lost — a double-fault, for example, or an opponent’s ace; one ball that floats a centimetre wide or long or catches the tape of the net, say, or even a lucky shot off the other player’s that somehow finds a line, etc, etc — none happened during Shvedova’s 15 minutes of fame.
‘‘Apparently, it’s the biggest news of the day: I lost a set without winning a point. Unbelievable,’’ the 10th-seeded Errani said. ‘‘She was impossible to play against. I don’t even feel like I played terribly. She just was hitting winners from every part of the court.’’
The 65th- ranked Shvedova didn’t even realise what was happening. Not until she was in the gym afterwards, cooling down, when her coach pointed out the accomplishment.
‘‘I had no idea. I was just playing every point and every game,’’ said Shvedova, a 24-yearold who won two Grand Slam doubles titles in 2010 with Vania King of the United States.
She did notice the way spectators at Court 3 applauded and yelled after Errani stopped the streak by taking the opening point of the second set.
‘‘Apparently, it’s the biggest news of the day: I lost a set without winning a point. Unbelievable.’’
‘‘I was, like, ‘What’s going on?’,’’ Shvedova said.
Now things look to get a tad tougher. In the fourth round, she’ll face Serena Williams, whose 13 Grand Slam titles include four at the All England Club.
‘‘Hopefully I’ll be able to win a point in the set,’’ Williams said, somehow keeping a straight face. ‘‘That will be my first goal, and then I’ll go from there.’’
She actually came rather close to exiting over the weekend, needing every one of her tournament-record 23 aces to come back and edge 25th-seeded Zheng Jie of China 6-7 (5), 6-2, 9-7. Williams won all 18 of her service games and saved all six break points she faced.
Three times, while down 5-4, 6-5 and 7-6 in the final set, she served to stay in the tournament. Each time, she won the pivotal game at love. ‘‘It’s good to know that I can rely on that,’’ said the sixth-seeded Williams, who also held the previous Wimbledon women’s mark of 20 aces.
‘‘I just wanted to get through that match,’’ said Williams, who was upset in the first round at the French Open in May and hasn’t won a Grand Slam title in two years. ‘‘The last thing I wanted to do was lose.’’
Her buddy and possible London Olympics mixed doubles partner Andy Roddick did lose. The 29-year-old American, three times runner-up to Roger Federer at the All England Club, blew a kiss to the crowd as he walked off after losing 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4, 6-3 to No 7seeded David Ferrer, but said he had not made up his mind about his future in the sport.
‘‘If I don’t have a definitive answer in my own mind, it’s going to be tough for me to articulate a definitive answer to you,’’ the 30thseeded Roddick said.
Winners also included No 4 Andy Murray, with a four-set victory over Marcos Baghdatis, No 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No 9 Juan Martin del Potro, and No 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat the man who beat Rafael Nadal, Lukas Rosol, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
Women joining Williams and Shvedova in the fourth round were defending champion Petra Kvitova, second-seeded Victoria Azarenka, recent French Open champions Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone, No 21 Roberta Vinci and unseeded Tamira Paszek. — AP
Results, Page 13