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Wimbledon Women’s Day 4
Defending champion Elena Rybakina continued her steady progress on Thursday as she beat a patched-up Alize Cornet 6-2, 7-6 (2) for a place in the third round at Wimbledon.
The Kazakh holder needed an hour and three-quarters to move into the third round where she plays British No. 1 Katie Boulter, a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 winner over Bulgarian Viktorija Tomova.
Rybakina faced an injured Cornet, who arrived at the court with a right thigh taping and needed a medical timeout at 5-all in the third set for further repairs after sliding on the grass during a fall.
The third seed improved to 12-1 at the tournament.
“I started with good energy,” Rybakina said. “In the second set it became a bit tougher.
“I was not pushing as well with the legs. It was a tough match that I’m happy to win.”
The Kazakh knows she will be the emotional underdog in the next round.
“I understand that the crowd won’t be on my side, but that’s OK.”
Fourth seed Jessica Pegula moved through with a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Spain’s Cristina Busca, a main draw debutante who saved two match points and broke as her opponent served for the match the first time.
Elina Svitolina had few doubts about the success of her return to tennis after giving birth.
The Ukrainian lived up to her own expectations as she reached the third round with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 roller-coaster victory over Belgian Elise Mertens.
The former No. 3 who returned to the WTA in April, and won the Strasbourg title on clay in May.
Svitolina will next face former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over China’s Wang Xinyu.
Keniin is now ranked 128th and had to qualify into the field here; she led 5-1 in the second set but lost serve before nailing the win.
“I expected to play well after playing for so many years in the top level,” Svitolina said. “You want to play on the big stages, win these big matches.
“But it’s very difficult to come back to your best form, to your best game.”
She then added: “I can’t compare my game to what it was before the pregnancy.
“But there is something new in my game.
“My mindset is very fresh now, I’m really motivated like never before.”
Lesia Tsurenko joined her Ukrainian compatriot in the third round through a 6-4, 6-1 win over Katerina Siniakova.
2022 surprise quarter-finalist Jule Niemeier beat Karolina Muchova, the Roland Garros runner-up, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, with the Czech suffering from a tumble she took on the grass in the third set.
Rising 16-year-old qualifier Mirra Andreev, who reached the Paris third round before losing to Coco Gauff, shocked former French Open winner Barbora Krejicova 6-3, 4-0 when the veteran player retired injured.
“It’s my first experience on grass, just my fifth match,” the winner said. “I like the grass so far and I’m not playing that bad.
I’m super happy with my win, but it’s not the way I wanted to win, of course. She (Krejcikova) had some problems with her foot.
“Of course, I wish her the speedy recovery. I know it’s been
tough for her.”
Victoria Azarenka, whose match was postponed due to Wednesday rain, advanced over Nadia Podoroska with the loss of just three games in an 82-minute victory.
Dangerous Croat Petra Martic, who has reached the fourth round here three times, will line up next against top seed Iga Swiatek after defeating France’s Diane Parry 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Anett Kontaveit, who once ranked second on the WTA, ended her career with a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Czech Marie Bouzkova. The Estonian is retiring at age 27 due to a back injury.
“It’s just a lot of emotions,” she said. “There’s sadness, there’s happiness, there’s a bit of everything.
“The match didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but I was so happy to be able to play in front of so many people, that so many people that love me were able to
see me play for the last time – in singles.”
Alexander Zverev on Thursday made a long-sought after return to the Shanghai Masters semi-finals, booking his first final four at the event since 2019, defeating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4.
The 2027 year-end No. 1 last got this far as the Covid pandemic began to surface in China in 2019. The event was not played 2020-2022, with the German making modest progress here over the past three editions since resumption.
After winning his 62nd match of the season, the 29-year-old was pleased with his performance.
“I think it was a huge step up. From just being on the court I felt both of us were playing really well.
“I was, a lot of the time, outhitting Alex, which is difficult to do from the baseline because he is so fast and he loves this kind of court speed here.
“I felt good and I’m happy with the step up from the past couple of matches.”
Zverev advanced in 78 minutes, sending over 10 aces as he defeated the Australian for the ninth time in their 13 matches.
Added the reigning Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows Grand Slam champion: “I’ve been handling pressure quite okay this year. In a way you play a bit more relaxed.
“Once Jannik (SInner) unfortunately announced he won’t play for the rest of the year, I’m 4,000 points ahead of everyone else, so I trust myself enough that I’m going to win [enough matches].
Zverev will play for the final to wrap up the Asian swing as he takes on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who advanced when Arthur Gea quit their quarter-final with injury.
American outsider Ann Li produced the upset of her life on Wednesday, taking 10 match points to defeat world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in a quarter-final shock at the WTA Wuhan 1000.
The No. 31’s success kept top seed Sabalenka from a place in the final four at the event for the first time in her career.
The two-and-a-half-hour victory was the third for Li this season over a top 10 opponent. The loss was a huge blow to Sabalenka, who won the tournament on three occasions 2018, 2019 and 2024.
The run counts as a hat-trick, with the tournament played in the epicentre city for the Covid outbreak not staged from 2020 through 2023.
Li rallied from a set down to complete her biggest day in tennis.
“On some of those match points I was about to lose my mind. I was about to crash out,” the winner said.
“I didn’t even play that bad, she just played really well.
“You have to play point by point. And I knew that if I stayed there, I could get into that situation again, which is all you can ask for.”
Li was operating from a deficit after Sabalenka swept the opening set with an eight-point surge and put the American into a second-set hole down a break of serve, 2-4.
But Li gathered her resources and claimed nine of 11 games, levelling at a set each and leading 5-2 lead in the third.
Sabalenka called for the physio for her right leg, then saved five match points before continuing the heroics for four additional recoveries from defeat.
Li finally got the job done on her 10th chance in the final-set tiebreaker, finishing it off with a forehand winner.
Alexander Zverev marked his new status as sure-thing year-end No. 1 by reaching the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday by posting a fighting 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-6 (1) victory over Alexander Bublik..
The 29-year-old German whose two Grand Slam titles this season and the absence of injured Jannik Sinner helped him into the top spot for the first time, needed to save four early set points and deal with an ank;e issue on his journey into the last eight.
Zverev moved through in just under two and three-quarter hours to set up a match with last week’s Beijing finalist Alex de Minaur, The Australian booked his spot over Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4.
Zverev will be playing in his 40th quarter-final in a Masters 1000 and is on the hunt for an eighth trophy this season.
He said his ankle was giving problems – but not enough to affect the match outcome.”It was kind of understandable because I have been playing a lot of tennis, which is kind of a good sign because I have been playing well.
“I’m starting to feel my body more and more but happy to get through. It was a difficult match because he has been playing amazing tennis,” he said after coming from a break down in the deciding set.
De Minaur has bounced back nicely in Shanghai after quitting the Tokyo final against Carlos Alcaraz with an adductor muscle injury.
Zverev scratches 7-year itch with return to Shanghai SF
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