Halep Joins Wimbledon Upset List as Women Rest for Manic Monday

Upsets at Wimbledon reached a zenith on Saturday at the All England Club when more than half of the seeds in play were defeated by unseeded players, including the toppling of the world No. 1.
ADHEREL
Taipei’s 32-year-old Su-Wei Hsieh, who has lost more career matches than she has won and never cracked the Top 40, ousted the world No. 1 Simona Halep 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Now only No. 7 Karolina Pliskova remains among the Top 8 seeds.

“Yes, this is the biggest win of my career and the first over a world No. 1,” Hsieh told the BBC. “I was a bit tight in the first set but was happy in the second set. Two games down in the third set I kept fighting. I tried to concentrate on my game and it helped a lot.”

Hsieh in the 4th round will meet Dominika Cibulkova, who dispatched No. 15-seeded Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-2.

Also upsetting the seeded agenda were Belarus’ Aliaksandra Sasnovich topping No. 26 Daria Gavrilova 6-3, 6-1, Swiss Belinda Bencic beating up No. 27 Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 7-6(3), and Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck powering past No. 28 Anett Kontaveit 6-2, 6-3.

Sasnovich will next meet No. 12 seed Jelena Ostapenko who stopped the Sharapova-killer Vitalia Diatchenko 6-0, 6-4.

Bencic will line up against No. 11 seed Angie Kerber, who was at her machine-best downing No. 18 Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-4. Kerber was +18 on winners to unforced errors.

“I knew what to expect, we played a lot of tough battles in the past,” Kerber said of Osaka. “I was just trying to play my game, be aggressive, but at the same time just enjoy it. It’s always special to play on the Centre Court here.”

Van Uytvanck’s reward is a date with No. 14 Daria Kasatkina, who stopped No. 17 Ashleigh Barty 7-5, 6-3.

“She was serving good, she can slice the ball very low,” Kasatkina said of Barty. “It’s very dangerous on the grass so at the beginning I was not used to it but then found the right way to manage the situation. I was pretty nervous at the beginning especially playing the first match of the day.”

Sunday is a day of rest at the All England Club, but Manic Monday will feature (25) Serena Williams vs. Evgeniya Rodina, (11) Kerber vs. Bencic, (7) Pliskova vs. (20) Kiki Bertens, (12) Ostapenko vs. Sasnovich, (13) Julia Goerges vs. Donna Vekic, Camila Giorgi vs. Ekaterina Makarova, Hsieh vs. Cibulkova, and (14) Kasatkina vs. Van Uytvanck.