By Erik Gudris | Saturday, July 2, 2016
Madison Keys booked her place in the Wimbledon fourth round along with Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Despite more rain delays at Wimbledon, several of the biggest names in the women’s draw secured safe passage into the fourth round on Saturday.
Now many of the top seeded players find themselves facing each other in several tantalizing matches.
Wimbledon: Querrey Dethrones Djokovic in Upset
No. 5 seed and former semifinalist Simona Halep got through a potentially troublesome opponent in the recently in-form No. 26 seed Kiki Bertens. Halep handled the recent French Open semfinalist in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
“I’m really happy that I won this match. It was important for me. It was a big challenge before this one. I knew she's in good form and she plays good tennis in this moment. She did a great job in French Open, so she had a lot of confidence before this match,” Halep said. “But I went there just to play my best, to be aggressive because I knew that it's the only chance that I can win the match, to be aggressive and to do my game.”
Now Halep gets an even tougher test in No. 9 seed Madison Keys. The American battled through her own tough third round meeting against Alize Cornet of France.
After both players split the first two sets, Keys raced ahead to a 4-0 lead in the decider. Keys held off a late charge by the Frenchwoman before closing out the 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win.
“I feel like it was almost a restart button that's pushed and it's almost two separate tournaments. Obviously, usually we have that middle Sunday to kind of really feel it,” Keys said when what is the difference between the first and second weeks of a major. “But, no, I think everyone just gets a little bit more focused. The matches get tougher, because obviously you're playing people who have won multiple matches. I think it's more just you feel everything a little bit more once the second week kind of rolls around.”
No. 4 seed Angelique Kerber got through a tough all-German battle against countrywoman Carina Witthoeft. The first set ended up in a tiebreak that could have gone either way as each woman held set points throughout. But eventually Kerber managed to close it out and then ran away with the second set and match 7-6(11), 6-1.
“I think right now I'm feeling really good, like in Australia. Of course, I have confidence. I know how to win a tournament like this. I think this gives me a lot of more, like, experience and confidence, like I had in Melbourne,” Kerber said when asked how she felt coming into Wimbledon this year having won a major. “But it's always tough to come to the Grand Slam. I mean, the first few rounds are always not so easy. I was not playing so good in Paris. So it's good to be back in the second week on a Grand Slam after my Australian run.”
Kerber next faces Misaki Doi of Japan.
Kerber, Halep, and Keys all find themselves in the same section of the draw and one could reach the semfinals among them.
Other winners on the day included No. 19 seed Dominika Cibulkova who beat Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-3. No. 28 seed Lucie Safarova survived against qualifier Jana Cepelova 4-6, 6-1, 12-10. The Slovakian Cepelova upset No. 2 seed Garbine Muguruza in the last round.