(Photo credit score: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports)
World No.1 Iga Swiatek is on cruise management as she heads to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon for the second time in her profession.
On Friday, she topped No. 30 seed Petra Martic of Croatia 6-2, 7-5 to maneuver on. In her three matches in London — beating Martic, Sara Sorribes Tormo, and Zhu Lin — Swiatek has misplaced simply 13 video games.
Swiatek, of Poland, has 4 Grand Slam titles however by no means has reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. She’ll have that probability Sunday when she meets No. 14 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland on the grass courts in London.
Bencic moved on to the fourth spherical by defeating No. 23 Magda Linette, additionally from Poland, 6-3, 6-1.
“I’m really up for the challenge,” Bencic mentioned of the match with Swiatek. “I’m excited to play her. I think I’m a player that I play well against top players.”
She has performed the World No. 1 seven occasions and has 4 wins — three in opposition to Naomi Osaka and one other over Serena Williams.
Swiatek is 2-1 in head-to-head conferences in opposition to Bencic, however they’ve by no means performed on grass.
Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus did not have as straightforward of a time, pushed by Varvara Gracheva of France 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Other prime seeds on the ladies’s aspect — No. 4 Jessica Pegula, No. 6 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and No. 9 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic — all moved on. Because of a juggled schedule because of rain, Pegula’s match was a third-round competitors; Jabeur and Kvitova performed within the second spherical.
Awaiting Jabeur within the third spherical is former U.S Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada, who beat Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7).
Another Ukrainian, Elina Svitolina, took one other step ahead in her return from maternity depart, beating former Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin 7-6 (3), 6-2.
In probably the most entertaining match of the day, Lesia Tsurenko, additionally from Ukraine, and Ana Bogdan of Romania performed the longest ladies’s singles tiebreak in Grand Slam historical past. The wanted 38 factors to settle the third-round match, which Tsurenko received 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (18).
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the nineteenth seed, knocked out Eleventh-seeded Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-2, 6-4.
Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova wanted three tiebreaks to beat Madison Brengle of their second-round match 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7). It was the primary time a ladies’s singles match wanted three tiebreaks at Wimbledon within the Open Era.
Other winners embody No. 26 seed Madison Keys, Czech Marketa Vondrousova and Russian Anna Blinkova.
–Field Level Media