Visits: 5
Women’s singles round-up from day five at Wimbledon
By James Phillips
Last Updated: 05/07/19 5:51pm
Caroline Wozniacki failed to make it past the third round in a fifth consecutive grand slam after throwing away a fantastic chance to advance at Wimbledon.
The Danish star, who won the Australian Open in 2018, stormed into a 4-0 lead and double break in the opening set, but opponent Shuai Zhang fought back by winning six straight games.
No 14 seed Wozniacki was clearly unhappy about several line calls in the second set and vocally complained to the umpire about Hawk-Eye, but Zhang retained her focus and comfortably secured a 6-4 6-2 victory.
The 30-year-old Chinese player had never made it past the first round in five previous attempts in SW19 but now reaches the fourth round of a grand slam for only the second time in her career – after a run to the quarter-finals of the 2016 Australian Open.
Karolina Pliskova set up a last-16 clash against fellow Czech player Karolina Muchova following a hard-fought 6-3 2-6 6-4 victory over Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh.
The No 3 seed made it 38 victories for the year to seal a spot in the fourth round at Wimbledon for a second consecutive year, having failed to get past the second round in her previous six attempts.
Pliskova struggled in the second set when Hsieh broke her early, and she failed to win any of four break points at 2-4, before managing to up her game in the final set.
Wimbledon 2019 – Women’s Last 16
Bottom Half | Svitolina | vs | Martic |
---|---|---|---|
Muchova | vs | Pliskova | |
Halep | vs | Gauff/Hercog | |
Zhang | vs | Yastremska |
Muchova, meanwhile, saw off Estonian Anett Kontaveit 7-6 6-3 on No 3 Court.
The unseeded 22-year-old is making her Wimbledon debut, having reached the third round in the 2018 US Open, first round in this year’s Australian Open and second round at Roland Garros.
Seeded 20, Kontaveit gave Muchova a tough opening set, with the Czech youngster eventually prevailing 9-7 in the tiebreak, but the second set was much smoother for Muchova, who can look forward to a rematch with her compatriot – who beat her in the Australian Open first round in January.
No 8 seed Elina Svitolina came out on top with a 6-3 6-7 (1) 6-2 victory over No 31 seed Maria Sakkari on No 3 Court.
The Ukrainian, who had nearly been knocked out by Margarita Gasparyan in the previous round before the Russian had to retire through injury, made the most of her reprieve to reach the fourth round for the second time in three years.
Svitolina, 24, has made the quarter-finals twice at both the Australian Open and French Open but will be in uncharted territory in SW19 should she overcome Petra Martic in her next match and reach the last eight.
Martic, fresh from her best ever grand slam performance at Roland Garros, where she reached the quarter-finals, has made the Wimbledon fourth round for a second time in her career after beating Danielle Collins 6-4 3-6 6-4.
The No 24 seed from Croatia took the first set on Court 18, but her American opponent battled back to take the second 6-3.
Collins, who prior to a run to the semi-finals of this year’s Australian Open had never gone past the first round of a grand slam, was ultimately punished for making 41 unforced errors – 15 more than Martic.
Meanwhile, Teenager Dayana Yastremska has made it to the fourth round on her Wimbledon debut after defeating Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic 7-5 6-3 on Court 12.
The 19-year-old from Ukraine is playing in her fourth consecutive grand slam, with her only previous wins coming en route to the third round at the Australian Open.
She will take on Wozniacki’s conqueror Zhang, 11 years her senior, in the last 16.