Both Williams Sisters Serena, Venus Into Quarters, Agnieszka Radwanska Toppled at Wimbledon
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The quarterfinals at Wimbledon are set, and it contains both Williams sisters (the only Americans left), this year’s Australian Open winner, two unseeded players, and only four Top 10 players.
ADHEREL
The Williams sisters led the charge of (the only) 35+ age players as world No. 1 Serena overcame some early adversity to steamroll former world No. 2 and current No. 13 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-0, and the No. 8-seeded Venus edged No. 12 Carla Suarez Navarro 7-6(3), 6-4.
Kuznetsova served for the first set at 5-4 before Serena took command. The world No. 1 says playing consecutive days due to the rains at Wimbledon is not a problem as it is her regular job at WTA events, as she shared some of the way she speaks to herself in the second person vernacular.
“In order to win a [WTA] tournament you have to win the quarterfinals, semifinals and final back to back to back,” Williams said. “So for me it’s an easy transition. I thought to myself, ‘Serena, you’ve done this 70 times, you can do this.'”
Serena in the quarters will face No. 21 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, who stopped the run of No. 27-seeded American CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-3.
Venus will butt heads with unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, who upset No. 28-seeded Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-4.
“The first set was exciting, but it was emotional when the rain came,” Venus told the BBC regarding the first-set breaker against Suarez Navarro. “I was dismayed. I just tried to stay focused and that helped me get through. It’s an honor to do this job. Am I surprising myself? I’ve been in this position before…you always have to believe in yourself.”
No. 19 seed Dominika Cibulkova and unseeded Russian Elena Vesnina set up an unlikely quarterfinal after Cibulkova ground out a 6-3, 5-7, 9-7 thriller over No. 3 Aggie Radwanska, and Vesnina beat fellow unseeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova 5-7, 6-1, 9-7.
The other quarterfinal will be a high-powered one when No. 4 Angie Kerber meets No. 5 Simona Halep. The German beat Japan’s unseeded Misaki Doi 6-3, 6-1, and the Romanian came from a set down to beat a hobbled No. 9 Madison Keys 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3.
The Grand Slam problems continued for the American Keys, whose power serving and baseline game had long ago portended major success.
Up a set and a break, the American was brought to the verge of tears when a combination of a leg injury and a scampering Halep that refused to quit saw the Romanian claim an unlikely victory.
“She had a set and 2-0,” Halep said. “But I knew I had to be strong and focus on my game. I was strong mentally. I am feeling confident and I feel that I am close to my best.”
Tuesday at Wimbledon in the quarterfinal round will see (4) Kerber vs. (5) Halep, (1) Serena vs. (21) Pavlyuchenkova, (8) Venus vs. Shvedova, and (19) Cibulkova vs. Vesnina.
WIMBLEDON TUESDAY SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT – 1:00PM
1. Simona Halep (ROU) [5] v Angelique Kerber (GER) [4]
2. Serena Williams (USA) [1] v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) [21]
3. Radek Stepanek (CZE) [14] / Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) [14] v Bob Bryan (USA) [2] / Mike Bryan (USA) [2]
NO.1 COURT – 1:00PM
1. Venus Williams (USA) [8] v Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)
2. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) [19] v Elena Vesnina (RUS)
3. Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) [1] / Nicolas Mahut (FRA) [1] v Sam Groth (AUS) / Robert Lindstedt (SWE)
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