Defending champion Serena Williams on Sunday came out with a stunning performance to beat Germany’s Annika Beck and book a spot in the last 16 of the Wimbledon 2016.
Advertisement
After falling behind 2-1 at the outset against Beck, Williams won 11 of the last 12 games and 24 of the second set’s 28 points.
Despite it taking Miss Creekmore 10 times longer to get Wimbledon from her Manhattan home than it did for Williams to demolish Beck, she had no sour grapes that the star did not stretch the match out longer.
“It gives me a lot of confidence”, she said. “So I think that’s really important”.
Serena Williams chose People’s Sunday to remind pretenders to her Wimbledon crown she has history in mind this fortnight.
“Past month or nearly two months”, said Vandeweghe, a 2015 Wimbledon quarterfinalist, “I’ve been doing a good job of rising to the occasion”. “I was really focused and calm”.
“Obviously I love having that Sunday off but I’m a little behind in my matches so I guess I had to play an extra day”.
Williams is continuing her quest for at least one more slam to equal or better Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 major titles, although she believes she has already etched her name in the history books, alongside Djokovic.
The victor will face second seed Andy Murray for a place in the quarter-finals.
Most players would settle for a run of US Open semi-final, Australian Open final, French Open final, albeit without winning a title, but at the top end of game the leading man and woman have set the most exacting standards.
However, the 13th seeded Kuznetsova remains adamant she did nothing wrong.
It was a full circle moment on Sunday for Serena, who played in the last People’s Sunday 12 years ago, defeating Magui Serna on Centre Court.
Past month or nearly two months, said Vandeweghe, a 2015 Wimbledon quarterfinalist, Ive been doing a good job of rising to the occasion.. I’m not necessarily a spontaneous person, it might be one of the craziest things I’ve ever done, but I’ve always wanted to come to Wimbledon.
Vandeweghe’s fourth-round opponent will be 23rd-seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russian Federation, who downed No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2.
The 21-year-old has played up to his bad-boy persona in the first week of Wimbledon, landing himself with two fines for unsportsmanlike conduct and swearing on court.
Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Albert Ramos (Esp) 2-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-3, Lucas Pouille (Fra) bt Juan Martin del Potro (Arg) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 6-1, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt John Isner (USA) 6-7 (3-7) 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 19-17, Nick Kyrgios (Aus) bt Feliciano Lopez (Esp) 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 6-4.
“You’re definitely aware of everything she’s accomplished”, McHale said, when asked about the mental challenge of playing Serena.
Williams is 9-3 against her upcoming Russian opponent, although Kuznetsova won their last meeting, a 6-2 in-the-third upset at the Miami Open in March.
Advertisement
Russia’s Elena Vesnina made the fourth round for the first time in seven years by ending the run of U.S. qualifier Julia Boserup, the world number 225, in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5.
