Cori Gauff's dream Wimbledon run ended by Simona Halep in fourth round
Third seed Karolina Pliskova exits after losing third set 13-11 against unseeded fellow Czech Karolina Muchova
Monday 8 July 2019 17:01, UK
Cori Gauff bowed out of Wimbledon in the fourth round against Simona Halep as the 15-year-old American qualifier was unable to extend her dream run.
The main draw debutant announced herself to the world in the first week at the All England Club but found former world No 1 Halep a step too far, losing 6-3 6-3 in one hour and 14 minutes on Court One on Monday.
Gauff, who had won six matches to reach the last 16, produced a valiant performance against the 2018 French Open champion and can console herself with the fact she will rise into the world's top 150, having started the tournament as the world No 313.
Halep marked the first seeded opponent Gauff had faced during the fortnight and the opening to the contest was of high-quality, with the teenager reacting well to being broken in the opening game to break back immediately.
Both players traded ground strokes from the baseline with incredible power and Gauff brought up two break points for a 3-1 lead but the Romanian held firm to stay on serve, having served three double faults earlier in the game.
Halep began to take control from the baseline as her greater power and consistency saw her repel Gauff's best defence and having saved a break point earlier with an excellent volley, the American was broken for the second time in the set.
The seventh seed found herself under pressure on serve once again but recovered from 0-30 to consolidate the break with a forehand winner, before completing the first set with a third break of serve.
Halep maintained her command on the contest as she opened up a 2-0 lead in the second set, but once again Gauff refused to give up the fight as she regained parity, before calling for a doctor courtside.
Gauff continued to compete well against the Romanian but things quickly ran away from her as she fell 5-2 behind, before saving two match points to at least force her opponent to serve out for victory and a meeting with Zhang Shuai.
Earlier on 'Manic Monday', which features all fourth-round matches in the men's and women's singles, China's Shuai matched her best Grand Slam singles performance - a quarter-final appearance at the 2016 Australian Open.
The world No 50, who had never won a match at Wimbledon in five career main draw appearances before this year, ended the run of 19-year-old Ukrainian debutant Dayana Yastremska 6-4 1-6 6-2.
Meanwhile, third seed Karolina Pliskova followed world No 1 Ashleigh Barty in suffering a surprise defeat as she was beaten 4-6 7-5 13-11 against Karolina Muchova.
The world No 3 served for the match at 5-4 and 11-10 in the third set, which lasted 1 hour and 51 minutes, but was broken each time before Muchova sealed the biggest win of her career on her third match point on the Pliskova serve.
If the score had reached 12-12, the pair would have played the first deciding-set tiebreaker since Wimbledon introduced new rules for this year's tournament.
Pliskova could have overtaken Barty at the top of the rankings if she had reached the final but was unable to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon for the first time.
