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regular-article-logo Saturday, 11 May 2024

Wimbledon: Iga Swiatek falls to slayer of slam champs

Jabeur became the first Arab woman to reach the quarters by rallying past 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek

Reuters London Published 06.07.21, 03:31 AM
Iga Swiatek

Iga Swiatek Twitter / @Wimbledon

Tunisian Ons Jabeur became the first Arab woman to reach the Wimbledon quarter finals with a dazzling 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 victory over seventh seed Iga Swiatek on Monday.

Jabeur lost four games in a row to concede the opening set but came back in sensational fashion to outplay last year’s French Open champion.

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The 26-year-old has now beaten three grand slam champions so far here, taking out five-time Wimbledon winner Venus Williams and Spain’s Garbine Muguruza during her impressive run.

When Swiatek struck a majestic backhand winner down the line to take the opening set it seemed that the Pole was beginning to take charge of the match.

But Jabeur started the second set with a break at love in the opening game and then held her own serve with a trademark drop shot that had Swiatek slamming her racket into the net tape in frustration.

It was a sign of things to come. Jabeur, who became the first Arab woman to win a WTA title on the Birmingham grass in the build-up to Wimbledon, faces second seed Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday.

Sabalenka battled past a determined Elena Rybakina 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the quarter finals of a grand slam for the first time in her career.

Rybakina broke Sabalenka in the opening game but the Kazakh, who came into the match having won a tournament-high 96 per cent of her service games in the first three rounds, let her opponent off immediately as she failed to hold.

Belarusian Sabalenka grew in confidence and though she lost the second set, she raised her level in the third to run away with the match.

Ashleigh Barty may not have been at her best but that did not stop the top seed from reaching the quarter finals for the first time with a 7-5, 6-3 win over French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova.

Long tipped as a future Wimbledon champion, the Australian world No. 1 has had to wait nine long years since making her main draw debut in 2012 to finally put herself in the last-eight mix here.

Teenager Coco Gauff’s hopes were dashed by Germany’s former champion Angelique Kerber as she went down 4-6, 4-6.

Novak, Federer rule

It was business as usual for top seed Novak Djokovic as the Serbian dismantled the challenge of Chile’s Cristian Garin with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory to advance to the last eight stage.

The world No.1, who won the last two men’s singles titles on the manicured grass at the All England Club, will play his 50th grand slam quarter final.

Roger Federer, seeded sixth, was stretched in the first set by young Italian Lorenzo Sonego, but the sixth seed soon proved his class winning 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.

After an hour-long first set, Federer wrapped up the match in just over two hours. The first set was finely poised with Sonego facing a break-point at 5-5 when rain led to a stoppage as the roof came on.

After resumption, Federer broke, held, and took what proved to be an unshakeable grip on the match.

Matteo Berrettini stepped up his bid to join a select band of players to complete the Queen’s Club-Wimbledon double in the same year with a fluent 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 win over debutant Ilya Ivashka

Karen Khachanov beat last-standing American Sebastian Korda 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

Fifth seed Russian Andrey Rublev, however, failed to follow his compatriot Khachanov into the next round, going down 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 0-6, 3-6 to Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics.

Fourth seed Alexander Zverev crashed out, losing to 16th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-3, 4-6.

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