Defending champion Serena Williams was dumped out of Wimbledon, losing to French ninth-seed Marion Bartoli in straight sets 6-3, 7-6, while sister Venus also suffered a fourth-round exit. Caroline Wozniacki’s poor Grand Slam record continued as she crashed out in the fourth round as well.
World number one Wozniacki crashed out as Slovakian 24th-seed Dominika Cibulkova secured a shock 1-6, 7-6, 7-5 victory.
Venus sent packing, Djokovic progresses
Venus was the other major casualty as she lost 6-2, 6-3 against Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova in the last-16.
Pironkova, who had eliminated Venus by the identical score in last year’s quarter-finals, took advantage of a wayward performance from the five-time champion to surge into the last-eight.
Meanwhile, second-seed Novak Djokovic defeated Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals. Djokovic will face Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic for a place in the semi-finals.
Murray puts on royal performance
Andy Murray served up a royal treat for Prince William and Catherine as the British fourth-seed thrived in 30-degree heat to crush Richard Gasquet and reach the quarter-finals.
The 24-year-old, who had to come from two sets to love down to defeat the flamboyant Frenchman in the fourth round three years ago, had no such problems this time, wrapping up a 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Murray, bidding to become Britain’s first men’s Wimbledon champion since Fred Perry in 1936, has reached a fourth consecutive quarter-final.
“I thought it was good - I think I served well, and I got a lot of free points off that,” said Murray, who has yet to make a Wimbledon final.
“But I need to improve - the best players ever are still in the tournament, so I need to get even better.”
Sharapova downs Peng
Maria Sharapova downed China’s Peng Shuai 6-4, 6-2 in the fourth round to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2006. The first set was a closely-fought affair with little separating the Russian fifth seed and the Chinese number two, but Sharapova was able to impose herself much more in the second set against the 20th seed.
“It’s great to win,” said Sharapova.“I’m giving myself an opportunity to go even further so I’m quite happy about that.
“I have to be realistic about the fact that I hadn’t gotten past the fourth round in a few years so this a step forward and it’s just about taking care of business in the next round.”
Maria Sharapova
“I’ve to be realistic about the fact that I hadn’t gotten past the fourth round in a few years so this a step forward and it’s just about taking
care of business in the
next round.”
Andy Murray
“I thought it was good — I think I served well, and I got a lot of free points off that. But I need to improve — the best players ever are still in the tournament, so I need to
get even better.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2011.
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