Kuznetsova didn’t put enough pressure in her return games, she saved a set point with a massive forehand victor but the world number 15, her lowest rank in two years, sealed the set at the second chance.
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Spaniard Muguruza, who reached the final at SW19 in 2015, won 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 15 minutes on Court One.
Asked what it was like without Serena and her dad, Venus said: “They’re definitely here with me, for sure”.
But he could not pull through, extending his drought without a quarterfinal berth at the All England Club to six years.
Venus, after her win over Ana Konjuh, said that Wimbledon needs to consider scheduling more women matches on Centre Court or Court No. 1. Rybarikova lost in the first round at Wimbledon every year from 2008 to 2014. The 20-year-old was never truly in the match.
First there was a fatal vehicle crash, then came the lawsuit, then an emotional breakdown during a Day 1 press conference, then the police reversing course, and this Saturday, perhaps, a Grand Slam title. Venus Williams will now serve to clinch the first set. The last time she had that opportunity she failed in a stunning way in the French Open final losing to Jelena Ostapenko.
In her 100th match at Wimbledon in a career that began in 1997, Williams thus found her 10th trip to the semifinals by defeating three players born in 1997 – and all in a total of six sets.
It was not easy in the third as well, with the two locked 4-4, but Paire served up yet another double-fault to allow Murray to level and break him to go up 5-4 and then close out the match 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4. “Also for the spectators, it’s more enjoyable to watch, because it’s”.
American Coco Vandeweghe may be only the 24th seed but she has been strongly fancied to do well this fortnight since day one, with her attacking game perfectly suited to the grass. “Maybe still a little bit feeling dizzy”.
Nadal dropped the opening set despite not making an unforced error, ending his Grand Slam set winning streak.
The 13th-seeded Ostapenko pushed hard to even the match with Williams by delivering a strong second set.
Williams, this year’s Australian Open runner-up, is the oldest Wimbledon quarter-finalist for 23 years and she knows she’ll have to summon the kind of dominant display that made her so deadly a decade ago. Her own service did far more of the talking. After wrong-footing Venus at 30-40, however, she sent her forehand long then a big serve from Venus and another error from Ostapenko put an end to the second game.
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So they headed to a fifth set, which was masterful, filled with brilliance from both. The American was once again in trouble when she was down 4-5 and was serving to save the set. The rain came and went into the afternoon, forcing the delay of the first women’s quarterfinal match on No. 1 Court.
