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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | July 8, 2019


And then there were eight.

And one of those eight was not like the others.

The Wimbledon quarter-finals are set on the ladies singles side at Wimbledon, and the top six seeds will not be joining the party when action begins on Tuesday at SW19. A 23-time major and 7-time Wimbledon champion, however, will.

Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty, third-seeded Karolina Pliskova and sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova were all knocked off on Manic Monday, opening the draw a tad further for Serena Williams or Simona Halep to move through.

Williams and Halep are the only former Grand Slam champions left in the draw, which means that there’s potential for bigger surprises and first-time breakthroughs as we move forward at Wimbledon.

Here’s a look at all four of Tuesday’s matchups:

Serena Williams v Alison Riske

It was supposed to be the quarter of death, but for Serena Williams it has turned out to be the quarter of opportunity. After Alison Riske knocked off World No.1 Ash Barty on Monday Serena became the runaway favorite to win the title on Saturday at SW19.

The American put forth her cleanest and shortest effort of the tournament, raking Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-2 6-2 on Monday in 64 minutes. Williams will be the heavy fave in her first-time meeting against Riske but she’s been far from perfect thus far at Wimbledon. That isn't to say she's been bad, just not vintage Serena yet. Losing a set to unheralded Kaja Juvan in the second round was a surprise, but Williams bounced back nicely against Julia Goerges in round three and today she won 61 percent of her baseline points against Carla Suarez Navarro and was never really tested.

It will be a tall order for Riske, who upset Barty on Monday and will have to turn around quickly to try and pull what would be an even more epic upset against the seven-time Wimbledon champ.

“I'm ready for a war,” Riske said. “She's the greatest athlete I think that's ever been on the women's side. It's going to be a huge challenge, but I'm really looking forward to it.”

Let the battle begin…


Johanna Konta v Barbora Strycova

British hopes are still very much alive at Wimbledon in the form of No.19 seed Johanna Konta. The former semi-finalist edged Petra Kvitova in a tense battle on Centre Court on Monday, and will be the favorite against the plucky Strycova, but not by much. Strycova reached her second Wimbledon quarter-final on Monday, defeating Elise Mertens in three sets, and possessed a crafty, diverse game that can really be tricky on the grass.

Konta on the other hand, can bowl her opponents over with swift serving and precision groundstrokes on this surface. The former World No.4 has been ruthlessly efficient on serve, winning 44 of 47 service games, and she was ruthless again on Monday against Kvitova, at least until nerves bothered her when she had a double-break lead in the third against the two-time Wimbledon champion.

Unlike today's battle against Kvitova, the contest against Strycova should be one that Konta can have on her racquet, but Strycova will look to keep her off balance with variety—she leads all players in the tournament in percentage of serve-and-volley points played and has won 80 percent of those points—and changes of pace.



Elina Svitolina v Karolina Muchova

Surprise, surprise.

Elina Svitolina and Karolina Muchova are two players that very few would have expected to reach the quarter-finals here at Wimbledon. Svitolina, of course, is the more seasoned veteran, but she has struggled with injuries and has not shown much form on grass over the course of her career. She entered the draw with an unimpressive 5-6 lifetime record at Wimbledon.

Muchova is a talented 22-year-old who has come a long way in the last year (she was ranked 223 this time last year), but she is making her Wimbledon debut and had never won a match against a Top 10 player until she took out her compatriot Karolina Pliskova today.

Well, here she is, and she’s looking good. She’s been very crisp through four rounds, hitting 35 more winners than unforced errors and helping her cause with 29 aces. But she Muchova struggled off the baseline, winning just 49 percent of baseline points, and Svitolina would be wise to keep her pegged behind the line if she wants to have success.

Simona Halep v Zhang Shuai

Simona Halep has made at least the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in four of the last six seasons, so forget about saying that the Romanian can’t play on grass—she clearly excels on the surface like she does on all others.

Now she’ll see if she can take it to the next level when she meets the Cinderella story of this year’s Wimbledon, China’s Zhang Shuai.

Zhang entered this year’s draw with an 0-5 record at Wimbledon. Now she’s 4-5 and ready to take a shot at Halep in the quarters.

“Before the first win, first round, I never think I can make quarterfinal here, because before this year I never win any match singles here,” she said, adding: “Yeah, everything impossible now, so I don't know.”

Zhang is the first Chinese woman to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon since Li Na in 2013, and she’ll take confidence from the fact that one of her biggest career wins came against Halep. She defeated the Romanian in the first round of the 2016 Australian Open for her first career Grand Slam win after losing 14 consecutive first-round matches at majors.

Zhang owns a 2-1 lifetime record over Halep, but the 2018 Roland Garros champ is in a good headspace after walloping Victoria Azarenka in the third round and easing past 15-year-old phenom Coco Gauff today.

“More confident,” she said. “I feel better mentally. I'm not tired any more. I've been a little bit tired at the beginning of the year. I'm fresh, emotional talking. I started to feel hungry of the results already. Every match I want to win it badly. I'm trying just to do that.”

 

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