Dominika Cibulkova yesterday shrugged off a furious line call controversy to power into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-1 rout of Taiwanese giant-killer Hsieh Su-wei.
Cibulkova was furious when Hsieh successfully persuaded the umpire to replay a point that was initially called in the Slovakian’s favor and would have given her three set points in the opening set.
However, the 29-year-old challenged her anger to crush Hsieh — who had shocked world No. 1 Simona Halep in the third round.
Photo: AP
Cibulkova is ranked 33rd in the world and controversially missed out on being seeded at Wimbledon when tournament officials moved up seven-time champion Serena Williams into the seedings, despite the American being ranked outside the top 150 following her maternity leave.
Although Cibulkova complained about the decision, the former Australian Open finalist has refocused well enough to make her third Wimbledon quarter-final.
She faces Latvian 12th seed Jelena Ostapenko for a place in the semi-finals after the former French Open champion swept into her second Wimbledon quarter-final with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-0 win against Belarusian world No. 50 Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Ostapenko came from 2-5 down in the first set to finish off Sasnovich, who had stunned two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the first round.
The 21-year-old also made the last eight at Wimbledon last year, just weeks after winning her maiden Grand Slam title in Paris.
Kiki Bertens knocked out the last top-10 seed as the Dutch world No. 20 stunned Karolina Pliskova with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/1) victory in the fourth round.
Germany’s Angelique Kerber, seeded 11th, is the top-ranked player remaining.
Bertens, a French Open semi-finalist in 2016, is into the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time.
Bertens, who was contemplating retirement last year after losing her enthusiasm for the sport, is the first Dutch woman to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals since Michaella Krajicek in 2007.
Italy’s Camila Giorgi also advanced to her first Grand Slam quarter-final with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Russian world No. 35 Ekaterina Makarova.
Giorgi was making only her third appearance in the round-of-16 at a Grand Slam, but there was no big-game nerves as the world No. 52 cruised to the most significant victory of her career.
The 26-year-old had failed to get past the third round of a major since the 2013 US Open, but she was in complete control against Makarova, who had defeated reigning Australian Open champion Wozniacki in the second round.
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