But the steady rain meant the start of the first women’s quarter-final between Madison Keys of the US and Russia’s Daria Kasatkina on centre court was pushed back from 10.45am local time (2.45pm BST) until at least 11.30. Keys, who was overlooked until both Venus Williams and Serena Williams were eliminated in earlier rounds, made it further than expected but fell to second seed Angelique Kerber in the semifinals on Friday. She got out to a commanding 5-0 lead against Daria Kasatkina in the first 20 minutes of the match before taking the opening set 6-3.
Advertisement
He and partner Jack Sock lost 6-3, 7-5 to Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau of Romania in the semifinals, but can head home with a bronze if they beat Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil of Canada.
The No. 7-seeded Keys’ power-based game overwhelmed Daria Katsatkina of Russian Federation, 6-3, 6-1, in a mere 53 minutes, thanks in large part to a 30-4 edge in winners. Johanna Konta wins the sixth game to cut the lead in half at 4-2, but Angelique Kerber storms back with back-to-back wins in the seventh and eighth games.
It was enough to cause a shriek of frustration at one stage from the Brit, as she tried to get on terms, before being broken for a final time to send Kerber into the Olympic semi-final.
After the Americans survived a couple of match points – and Italy fought off seven of their own – the final set of their final match in pool play at the beach volleyball tournament at Copacabana was tied 22-22.
After battling her way to 4-4, Keys blew three break points to hand the ninth game to Kerber.
After a day of blowouts, the semifinals are set at the Rio Olympics and someone will walk away with their first gold medal.
Keys, a 21-year-old native of Rock Island., Ill., can still leave Rio “on a high”, as she put it.
Steve Johnson, of the United States, returns to Evgeny Donskoy, of Russian Federation, at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016.
The victor of this semifinal encounter will face the Czech Republic’s 11th seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova or Puerto Rico’s surprise semifinalist, Monica Puig in the gold medal match, and the loser of the Kerber-Keys match will compete for the bronze medal with the loser of the Kvitova-Puig match.
The American made short work of Daria Kasatkina of Russian Federation, needing just 54 minutes on the courts of the Olympic Tennis Centre to earn a 6-3, 6-1 victory.
“The first thing I did was say, ‘Yes, I won!”‘ Keys said.
“I just want to go out there and win a medal”, she said. She has a chance to overtake Williams for the No. 1 ranking this year. The American saved two out of three break point attempts coming from Kasatkina. Kvitova takes over second serve points won as well, with 8 of 9 (89%) second serve wins compared to 5 of 11 (45%) for Elina Svitolina.
Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig finalizes a cast of Olympic Rookies in the 2016 Women’s tennis singles event.
“For me it would mean the world”, said the 34th-ranked Puig, who had 16 winners to Kvitova’s 36, but 40 unforced errors.
At some point, Phil Dalhausser just had to laugh.
Williams lost in the first round of singles and women’s doubles in Rio. Keys is 2-2 against the two-time Wimbledon champion, including a victory on clay in Rome earlier this year. Safarova and Strycova go past Rio eight seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy to reach the tournament final four.
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina will meet the Czech Republic team Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova for a chance to reach the gold medal round.
Advertisement
Awaiting Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka are fifth seeds Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis. Team Switzerland sweeps the Chan sisters 6-3, 6-0 after a one hour and fourteen minute quarterfinal match.
