By Chris Oddo | Tuesday, July 1, 2014

 

Angelique Kerber plunged the women's singles draw further into disarray on Day 8, as she upset Maria Sharapova in three sets.

Photo Source: Kieran Galvin/ CameraSport

The upheaval of the women’s singles draw at Wimbledon continues.

Angelique Kerber knocked off Maria Sharapova, the woman who some had tabbed as the favorite after Serena Williams’ departure from the draw on Saturday, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4, to open up the draw even further at the All England Club.

Simona Halep, who defeated Zarina Diyas on Tuesday to reach the quarterfinals, is now the only top five seed remaining in the draw.

Sharapova made Kerber work for her second career trip to Wimbledon’s last eight (2012), as the Russian mounted a furious surge with her back against the wall in the third set. Sharapova rallied from 5-2 down to get to 5-4 (saving one match point in the eighth game), but the feisty German came through on her seventh match point to break Sharapova and book her spot in the quarterfinals.

Sharapova would fight back from 0-40 down while serving at 4-5 in the third set, then proceed to save two more match points with courageous hitting, but on her final match point her backhand sailed wide as a jubilant Kerber raised her arms to celebrate the victory.

“When I had the three match points in a row, and it was deuce, I tried to focus on myself and said to myself: ‘Believe in your game, try and hit the ball and just be aggressive.’ At the end, it worked,” Kerber said.

49 unforced errors on the afternoon didn’t help Sharapova’s cause at all, and in the end the Russian's warrior spirit didn’t allow her to overcome what was a less than sparkling performance from the five-time Grand Slam champion.

“I worked too hard in the match to let it go the easy way,” said Sharapova. “I did everything I could to try to save those [match points] but in the end I couldn’t save the last one.”

Part of the reason that Sharapova committed such a high number of errors was the sparkling, tenacious defense of Kerber. The German committed only 11 unforced errors in the two hour and thirty-seven minute battle, and time and time again she forced Sharapova to hit the extra ball.

Kerber will bid to match her career-best result at Wimbledon when she takes on Canda’s rising star Eugenie Bouchard in the quarterfinals. The pair have split two previous matches, with Bouchard winning their last encounter at Roland Garros in straight sets.