By Chris Oddo | Monday July 8, 2018
Unseeded Dominika Cibulkova powered past Hsieh Su-Wei to book a quarterfinal with Jelena Ostapenko at Wimbledon.
Matthew Stockman/Getty
Wimbledon, England—Unseeded? Yes. Unfinished business? Most definitely.
After being bumped as a seed by Wimbledon’s seeding committee, Dominika Cibulkova has played four rounds with a chip on her shoulder and on Monday she reached the quarterfinals for the second time, notching a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Chinese Tapei’s Hsieh Su-Wei on No.18 Court.
The Slovakian would have been seeded 32 but she was bumped out when the tournament elected to seed Serena Williams at 25. Cibulkova wasn’t happy about the decision at the time, but she hasn’t dwelled on it at Wimbledon. Instead she has upped her game and become a true title contender on what his perhaps her best surface.
Cibulkova knocked off 22nd-seeded Johanna Konta in the second round and 15th-seeded Elise Mertens in round three before cruising past Hsieh today.
The Slovakian was broken four times but responded with seven breaks and never trailed. She has yet to drop a set through four rounds and has lost just 23 games.
Her victory sets a quarterfinal clash with red-hot Jelena Ostapenko. The Latvian has also not dropped a set and also dropped only 23 games in four rounds. She rallied from 5-2 down in set one to take out Belarus’ Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 7-6(4), 6-0.
Ostapenko has now reached back-to-back quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
In other Day 7 action, Holland’s Kiki Bertens reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal with a 6-3, 7-6(1) victory over No.7-seeded Karolina Pliskova. The Czech’s loss means that no Top 10 seeds will reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon this year.
Italy’s Camila Giorgi, also unseeded, reached her first major quarterfinal with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ekaterina Makarova on No.12 Court. The Italian improves to 14-10 lifetime at Wimbledon. She has a 13-18 record at the other three majors combined.