Halep bows out but men’s No 1 Nadal stands firm at Wimbledon
● World No 1 and French Open champion Simona Halep was knocked out of Wimbledon yesterday, losing to Taiwan’s Hsieh SuWei 3-6 6-4 7-5 in the third round as the All England Club seeds’ carnage claimed another victim.
Defeat for Halep means that Karolina Pliskova, at No 7, is the only women’s top 10 seed to reach the fourth round. It also boosted Serena Williams’s chances of becoming an eight-time Wimbledon champion.
Hsieh, the world No 48, battled back from 2-5 down in the final set and saved a match point when the Romanian served for the match at 5-3 in the decider.
It will be Hsieh’s first appearance in the last-16 of a slam where she will face Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
“It’s my first win against a world No 1,” said 26-year-old Hsieh. “It’s amazing. I was 2-5 down in the final set but the crowd pushed me to fight.”
Two-time champion Rafael Nadal reached the last-16 for the eighth time and made sure of the world No 1 ranking. The second seed comfortably beat Australian teenager Alex De Minaur 6-1 6-2 6-4.
Nadal, the 11-time French Open champion and bidding for an 18th major, will face either Italy’s Fabio Fognini or Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic for a quarterfinals spot.
Nadal has not got past the fourth round since 2011 when he finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic.
Understandably, the 2008 and 2010 champion is wary of looking too far ahead this year.
If he does reach the final, he would prefer not to face Roger Federer, the eight-time champion at the All England Club.
“If I am in the final, I prefer to face an easier opponent. I am not stupid,” smiled the Spaniard.
“But if I am in the final, will be great news. Any opponent will be difficult, of course.”
Other early winners on Saturday included Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck who followed her upset of defending champion Garbine Muguruza by beating Anett Kontaveit, the 28th seeded Estonian, 6-2 6-3. Van Uytvanck will meet fellow last-16 debutant Russian 14th seed Daria Kasatkina, who defeated Ashleigh Barty of Australia 7-5 6-3. — AFP
Juan Martin del Potro made the last-16 for the first time in five years when the Argentine fifth seed defeated France’s Benoît Paire 6-4 7-6 (7/4) 6-3.
“I know my game,” Del Potro said. “It is adapting well to this surface. I don’t know how far I will go in this tournament, but I am confident with my game at this time.
"I am hitting more often with the twohanded backhand, which is good for me."—