World No 1 Ashleigh Barty was knocked out of Wimbledon on Monday, losing her fourth round tie to Alison Riske of the United States while teenage sensation Coco Gauff’s fairytale came to an end.
French Open champion Barty, bidding to become the first Australian champion at Wimbledon since 1980, lost 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to the world number 55 while the 15-year-old American was beaten by Romania’s former world number one Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3 in the last 16. She saved three match points, but was simply out-played by her more experienced opponent.
Third seed Karolina Pliskova was knocked out, losing to her Czech compatriot Karolina Muchova in a result which means Barty will remain world No 1.
The world number 68 Muchova triumphed 4-6, 7-5, 13-11 in a three-hour, 17-minute tie which came agonisingly close to supplying the tournament’s first ever 12-12 final set tie-break.
Muchova, 22 and making her Wimbledon debut, will face Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina on Tuesday for a place in the semi-finals.
Australian Barty will stay as world number one despite being knocked out of Wimbledon earlier Monday by Alison Riske.
Riske, who will marry Stephen Amritraj after Wimbledon, goes on to face seven-time champion Serena Williams for a place in the semi-finals.
It will be the 29-year-old’s first appearance in a Grand Slam quarter-final where she will play seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams.
The 37-year-old coasted into the quarter-finals on Monday beating Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2.
The path for the American of equalling Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles appears significantly easier.
Meanwhile, Petra Kvitova’s hopes of a third Wimbledon singles title evaporated as she was beaten by Britain’s Johanna Konta 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in their last 16 clash.
The 29-year-old Czech sixth seed, in the fourth round for the first time since she won the second of her titles in 2014, bows out leaving just two of the top 10 seeds remaining, Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina.
Konta, who reached the French Open semi-finals, blew her first chance of closing out the match serving at 5-2 in a game that lasted 10 minutes. She wasted two match points and Kvitova broke her on her fourth break point.
The British player, though, suffered no such nerves when presented with two more on her following service game.
Should Konta, seeded 19, beat 33-year-old Czech Barbora Strycova in Tuesday’s quarter-final she will be into her second Wimbledon semi-final having reached the same stage in 2017.
Elina Svitolina reached her first Wimbledon quarter-final when the Ukrainian eighth seed beat Croatian 24th seed Petra Martic 6-4, 6-2.
Svitolina, who has never gone beyond the last eight in the Majors, will face either Karolina Pliskova or the third seed’s Czech compatriot Karolina Muchova on Tuesday.
“I played really good, solid tennis,” said Svitolina after her victory on Court Three.
“It was a really physical match.I was moving really good and made some counter-attack shots. I was fighting and feeling good.”
Zhang Shuai became the first Chinese woman since Li Na in 2013 to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
World No 50 Zhang defeated Ukraine teenage Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.
The 30-year-old will face either 15-year-old Coco Gauff or former world number one Simona Halep for a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Czech veteran Barbora Strycova, who is pondering retirement, marched into the quarter-finals beating 21st seed Belgian Elise Mertens 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
It is the second time the unseeded 33-year-old, who beat fourth-seeded Kiki Bertens in the previous round, has reached the quarter-final stage, the previous occasion in 2014.
Strycova will play either compatriot and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova or Britain’s French Open semi-finalist Johanna Konta in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.
With AFP Inputs
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