Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic on Saturday continued their pressure on competitors in the women’s doubles at Wimbledon, taking them to the round of 16.
The third-seeded duo beat Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic and Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 6-2 to stay in the tournament. They next face the 15th-seeded Romanian pairing of Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu.
If Hsieh and Strycova win their match tomorrow and the sister team of Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching defeat their matchup with sixth-seeded duo Elise Mertens of Belgium and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the two pairings from Taiwan would go head-to-head in the quarter-finals.
Photo: AFP
Meanwhile, eight-time Wimbledon singles champion Roger Federer registered a record 350th win in Grand Slam matches in his 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Lucas Pouille of France and in the process reached the fourth round for an unprecedented 17th time.
“It’s a nice number to achieve. I’ve enjoyed my time at the Slams,” said Federer of his Grand Slam record. “It’s been nice winning that much.”
Earlier, his great rival and two-time Wimbledon champion, Rafael Nadal, had a much more enjoyable experience than his previous match as he eased into the round-of-16 with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 romp over French veteran Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The ease with which Nadal made the fourth round for the ninth time was replicated on the women’s side by Ashleigh Barty, who is to break new ground in appearing in the round of 16 for the first time.
Seven-time women’s champion Serena Williams is also into the second week for the 16th time.
Nadal, who embraced Tsonga fondly at the end in stark contrast to the chilly handshake he had with fiery Australian Nick Kyrgios in the previous round, said that he was delighted with the manner of his victory.
“I was very happy,” Nadal said. “I played a great match from the beginning to the end. Jo is one of those players you don’t want to face early, but today was my day.”
Andy Murray’s hopes of men’s doubles glory ended early as he and French partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert went out in the second round, but he was to end the day on a celebratory note as his star partnership with Williams eased into the second round of the mixed doubles, beating Germany’s Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarachi of Chile 6-4, 6-1.
Two of the top 10 seeds did bow out, as Dutch fourth seed Kiki Bertens lost to the Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova and American ninth seed Sloane Stephens lost to Britain’s French Open semi-finalist Johanna Konta.
Barty overwhelmed British wild card Harriet Dart 6-1, 6-1, while 37-year-old, seven-time champion Williams produced her most convincing display in dispensing with German Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-4.
Barty is the first Australian woman to make the second week since 2010.
“Incredible — new territory for me,” Barty said.
Eleventh seed Williams, who defeated Goerges in last year’s semi-finals, is bidding to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles.
“It’s been an arduous year for me, so every match I’m hoping to improve tons,” said Williams, who had a knee problem which affected her season.
However, there was no fairytale win in the mixed doubles for the star of the championships Coco Gauff.
The 15-year-old American — who has wowed the crowds in reaching the last 16 of the women’s singles — and her British partner Jay Clarke lost 6-1, 6-4 in the first round to Robert Lindstedt and Jelena Ostapenko.
Additional reporting by AFP
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