Barty beaten, Serena next: Alison Riske emerges strong from Wimbledon ‘Quarter of Death’

The ‘Quarter of death’ was the biggest talking point when the Wimbledon ladies singles draw was announced. The section of the draw was loaded with grass-court pedigree featuring five former world No 1 players, seven Grand Slam champions and four former winners.

There were only two slots and the contenders were top seed Ashleigh Barty, seven-time titlist Serena Williams, defending champion Angelique Kerber, 2017 and 2004 winners Garbine Muguruza and Maria Sharapova, last year’s semi-finalist Julia Goerges, and the promising Belinda Bencic and Donna Vekic.

As it turns out, the last women standing are Serena – perhaps to no one’s surprise – and Alison Riske, who has surprised many with her stunning win over Barty on Manic Monday.

The American World No 55 is in her first Grand Slam quarter-final at 29. Her career-high singles rank is 36 which she achieved back in May 2017 and her only WTA Tour title before this year was the Tianjin Open in October 2014.

But despite being seemingly unfancied, she has worked her way to the last eight at Wimbledon with solid wins over three seeds in the first four rounds. In the first week of the Championships, she had to battle through three consecutive three-set marathons, coming from a set and break down to knock out two seeded players.

The American showed her grit and grass-court quality as she fought back from 1-4 final set deficit to upset Croatia’s 22nd Donna Vekic in the first round and from 0-3 down in the decider to beat Swiss 13th seed Belinda Bencic in the third round. The win over Bencic would have been especially sweet as she had lost the second-round match to the Swiss last year, despite having four match points.

In the second round, she didn’t face a seed but needed a marathon 9-7 third set to see off Serbia’s Ivana Jorovic. Riske has also spent almost more a lot more time on court than her opponents, with over 12 hours play over the last eight days including the women’s and mixed doubles.

This run at Wimbledon, though, seems a natural progression rather than a fluke. Her game flourishes on grass and she came into Wimbledon with back-to-back trophies on grass – the WTA title at ‘s-Hertogenbosch and W100 ITF title in Surbiton. Her team is also working with Craig O’Shannessy, the tennis stats expert, to help her chalk out a statistics-based strategy to counter the big names.

At the WTA event, she beat fellow Wimbledon quarter-finalist Karolina Muchova – who stunned Karolina Pliskova – in the first round, Polona Hercoc – who knocked out Madison Keys and squandered match points against Cori Guaff – and top seed Kiki Bertens. In three of the five matches, she had to play three sets, but stuck around, although she did lose in the first round on grass in Mallorca.

Perhaps that early exit gave her the time to get in full gear for Wimbledon. Despite the three-setters, she seemed fresh and switched on in the fourth round.

The French Open champion had perfect start with four aces in a row in her first service game. She put Riske under pressure throughout the first set, breaking early and then not allowing her to consolidate her break in the first set.

But from the second set onward, Riske – in keeping with her social media handles @Riske4Rewards – started pushing Barty all over the court and getting her angles right. She used her swift movements to cover the court and was sure-footed at the net. Her groundstrokes winners were terrific – 30 to 15 unforced errors – and once she made her serve impenetrable, she was in control of the match.

It didn’t help that Barty’s own serve had deserted her with only 51% first serves. It seemed to affect her return game as well as she couldn’t convert break points while Riske managed a seconds serve ace to hold.

The Australian said it best when assessing her loss: “When I needed to, when the big moments were there, Alison played better today. Tough one to swallow but I lost to a better player… “When her back is against the wall, she plays really well typically.”

On her part, Riske said her confidence came from being battle-hardened and knowing her strategy. “I think ultimately it just came down to being ready for a battle… Nothing is ever going to be perfect out there. If it is, it’s very rare. I just think I was ready for whatever was going to come my way. I knew exactly what I was trying to do out there, what I was trying to execute. I knew that if I did them better than 50%, I was probably going to come out on.”

Up next for her is what will be her toughest test yet against compatriot Serena Williams who has elevated her level considerably in the last two matches against seeded players. The two have played doubles together but haven’t faced each other in singles.

“She’s a fighter on the court. She’s playing really great, especially on the grass. She’s attacking that ball really well. She doesn’t let anything limit her,” the 37-year-old said of her next opponent.

“Today was great preparation for me going into the Serena match. Again, I’m ready for a war,” Riske declared.

If this American makes her first Major semi-finals on Tuesday, it wouldn’t be a complete surprise. After all, she would have lived through the quarter of death.