Johanna Konta and Serena Williams headline Wimbledon ladies quarter-finals
Tuesday 9 July 2019 13:57, UK
British No 1 Johanna Konta headlines ladies quarter-finals day at Wimbledon on Tuesday when she takes on unseeded Czech Barbora Strycova for a place in the semi-finals.
Home favourite Konta knocked out two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 4-6 6-2 6-4 to make her second Wimbledon quarter-final appearance in three years.
Konta lost her only previous meeting against Strycova 7-5 7-6 (7-5) in Tokyo two years ago.
Making her 16th appearance at Wimbledon, and into her second quarter-final at the All England club, unseeded Czech Barbora Strycova trailed a set and 5-2 before completing an outstanding comeback to defeat 21st seed Elise Mertens 4-6 7-5 6-2.
Unseeded American Alison Riske ended World No 1 Ashleigh Barty's 15-match consecutive winning streak to set up a quarter-final meeting with seven-time champion Serena Williams.
Riske came from a set down to beat the Barty, 6-3 2-6 6-3. The American will now have an even tougher test when she faces Williams, in what will be their first career meeting.
Riske won the Libema Open title in the Netherlands last month seeing off the threat of home favourite Kiki Bertens. So even though she may have shocked the world in ousting Barty, Riske's grass-court form coming into Wimbledon has been as good as anyone on the women's tour.
10th seed Williams, who made it into her 14th Wimbledon quarter-final and an astonishing 51st Grand Slam ladies' singles quarter-final by powering through Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-2 6-2, will fancy her chances of winning an eighth Wimbledon title.
Williams will take some stopping at these championships and has looked more and more assured as each round has gone by. The 23-time Grand Slam champion has already hit an impressive 22 aces over the course of four matches.
Also in quarter-final action on Tuesday is eighth seed Elina Svitolina who will face the unseeded Czech, Karolina Muchova who sensationally knocked out third seed Karolina Pliskova in an epic three-set contest 4-6 7-5 13-11.
This will be their second meeting and their first on grass, with Svitolina coming out on top at the start of the year in Doha, 6-4 6-2.
The Ukrainian is enjoying her best run at Wimbledon having made the quarter-final for the first time in her career by brushing aside Petra Martic, 6-4 6-2.
Svitolina, who is making her seventh appearance at Wimbledon this year, has only dropped one set en route to the quarter-finals which came in her third-round clash against Maria Sakkari.
Having made a great start to 2019 by making semi-finals in Doha, Dubai and Indian Wells, Svitolina had only won five matches since March coming into the championships.
Playing in her first Wimbledon, Muchova has beaten two Top 20 seeds in Pliskova and 20th seed Anett Kontaveit to get to the quarter-final.
In what will be their fourth career meeting, seventh seed Simona Halep faces China's Shuai Zhang for a spot in the semi-final. Surprisingly Zhang leads their head-to-head 2-1 with the pair's last meeting coming three years ago in China.
Zhang had never won a main draw at Wimbledon before this year, won the battle of the unseeded players when she defeated Dayana Yastremska in three sets, 6-4 1-6 6-2.
Zhang, 30, is on a remarkable run at this year's championships having already seen off former World No 1 Caroline Wozniacki and 23rd seed Caroline Garcia in the previous rounds.
Halep ended the fairytale run of 15-year-old American Coco Gauff in straight sets 6-3 6-3 to book her place in her fourth Wimbledon quarter-final. The former World No 1's best result at Wimbledon came in 2014 where she was beaten by Eugenie Bouchard.
