Keeping calm as casualties mount
Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber have held grand slam trophies aloft, and so have learned to keep their heads down when clusters of highly-ranked players start losing in the first week of majors.
Wimbledon champion Halep and Kerber, who won her breakthrough major in Australia in 2016 and has added two grand slam titles since, navigated a chaotic third round at the Australian Open to reach the second week.
Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova, a semifinalist in Melbourne last year, and No 6 Belinda Bencic, a semifinalist at last year’s US Open, had straight-sets losses yesterday, the day after 23-time major winner Serena Williams and defending champion Naomi Osaka exited in third-round upsets.
‘‘Not at all. I’m not focusing on other players – just focusing on myself,’’ Halep said after her 6-1 6-4 win over Yulia Putintseva, the match after Pliskova lost to 7-6 (4) 7-6 (3) to 30thseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. ‘‘It doesn’t matter who is winning, who is losing, I just have to do my job when I step onto court.’’
Kerber had 6-2 6-7 (4) 6-3 win over Camila Giorgi. She almost laughed when asked if nervousness was contagious in the locker room when the top players start exiting.
‘‘Every match starts from zero – doesn’t matter who against you play,’’ she said. ‘‘You have sometimes a little bit bad days, good days. So it’s more about caring yourself, working on your strengths and going for it. So it’s nothing about looking around.’’
Kerber next faces Pavlyuchenkova for a spot in the quarterfinals, a stage Pavlyuchenkova has reached five times but never surpassed at the majors.
She said she hadn’t been patient enough in the past, but is putting more value on each match now. She’d only ever taken one set off Pliskova in six previous losses, but decided to target one of the best serves in the women’s game – and it worked.
Having a bunch of top players missing from the second week doesn’t come into her thinking, either.
‘‘I don’t focus so much on names any more. I’ve been on the tour for a while,’’ she said, when asked about the absence of Williams, Osaka and so on.
Williams, 2018 champion Caroline
Wozniacki and Osaka all lost on Friday. Wozniacki went immediately into retirement but Williams vowed to continue her pursuit of Margaret Court’s all-time record 24 major.
Bencic was rolled 6-0 6-1 by 28thseeded Anett Kontaveit, who will next play Poland’s Iga Swiatek, who took out 19th-seeded Donna Vekic 7-5 6-3.
Meanwhile, world No 1 Rafael Nadal has demolished fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta to win through to the fourth round.
‘‘My best match of the tournament so far without a doubt,’’ Nadal said after winning 6-1 6-2 6-4.
Earlier, French 10th seed Gael Monfils defeated Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-3.