Right so its time for the 3rd part of my look at Wimbledon 2014 which will cover days 6 to 8 of the ladies tournament and without further ado let's give it a look...
So play began with Maria Sharapova who took on the American grass court specialist, Alison Riske, however despite a good start from Riske, she soon fell at the might of the big Pova and after a break in the first set, the second set saw Sharapova dish up a bagel for her opponent Riske to land her place in the 4th round with a 6-3, 6-0 win. And after that we had the biggest upset of the tournament on the ladies side as Serena Williams took on the in fom French player, Alize Cornet for a place in the last 16. And despite a good start from Serena who took a double break, Cornet started her fightback in the 2nd set and she broke Serena and went on to level the match a set apiece. And in the 3rd set, Cornet nabbed a double break as Serena started to look out of sorts, however Serena did recover one of the breaks, but in the end Cornet held her nerve and pulled off the biggest win of her career with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.
This was quite a performance from Cornet as well as big upset for Serena, who did actually look out of sorts and way below her best as the match moved on. And that also sends out a message to the other players that Serena is looking pretty vulnerable this year and this is another early exit in a slam, as she also went out in the 4th round of Australian open and the 2nd round of the French Open. So Serena has alot of work ahead of her in order to regain her best form, but at least she has another two months before the US Open comes around and hopefully for her she will get back to her best, as she will need to in order to defend her title there.
So onto day 7 which started with the very talented newcomer, Eugenie Bouchard, who so far has had a terrific season and reached the semi finals of the first two grand slams this season, and she played against Serena Williams conqueror Alize Cornet. The match itself was quite a tight encounter and Bouchard took the first set on the tiebreak, but in the 2nd Cornet looked to be in control as she broke to move ahead, however Bouchard wasn't to be outdone and she broke back and went on to seal the match a break of her own (its all breaks isn't it?!!) with a 7-6, 7-5 victory, the young Canadian reached her first Wimbledon quarter final. Well this really does see the new generation of young players rise to the fore with Bouchard right at the front of the queue along with Simona Halep, its refreshing to see some new faces step up to the challenge. And on this evidence I'm sure it won't be long before we have a new major champion on the ladies front.
And in other matches, Sabine Lisicki, last year's finalist had a tough match against Ana Ivanovic, who has been playing well of late, but Lisicki is a seasoned grass court player and she showed her form in the opening set by taking it with a single break. As the match moved into the 2nd set however, Ana complained about poor light, play was suspended, but was resumed on Monday where Ana took the 2nd set. But Lisicki soon regained her form and went on to fend off Ivanovic with a double break and reached the 4th round in 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. And lastly Petra Kvitova made an easy passage into the quarter finals and seemed to regain the imrpessive form that we had seen from her back in 2011 when she won the title, as she dismissed Peng Shaui of China in 6-3, 6-2.
So now we get onto day 8 which saw another big upset as Maria Sharapova was up against the German No.1, Angelique Kerber as they did battle on centre court in a thrilling match, which saw momentum swing back and forth. Keber took the first set on a tiebreak, but Sharapova soon found her way into the match in the 2nd set and broke Kerber to level the match. And given Sharapova's record for winning three sets matches, it was a real surprise to see what happened next as Kerber broke Sharapova's serve, but Sharapova in typical broke back, but at 5-4, with Sharapova looking to level the scores, Kerber finally converted a seventh match point to end Maria's quest to win a second Wimbledon title after a hard fought 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 win.
This was a really good win for Kerber and it was great to see her get back into the business end of the majors, as last year she struggled to get past the fourth round, but today she finally managed to make that transition. However Kerber will have her work cut out in the next round as she faces in the form Eugenie Bocuhard, who has already reached two slam semis this year and she could very well reach a third if Angie isn't too careful. But whatever happens it promises to be quite a match.
And for the last two matches I will cover, starting with Lucie Safarova who took on Ekaterina Makarova, who thrashed Agnieszka Radwanska in the 4th round, and the Czeck showed her best form as she drubbed Makarova in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to reach her first grand slam semi final. This was a terrific result for Safarova, who has always been a player that has shown the potential to be in the top 10 but has somehow always come up short, but here Safarova is starting to fulfil that potential and it looks good for her in the future if she continues in this form. And lastly the No.3 seed, Simona Halep continued her stellar season as she dismissed the Kazahkstan, Zarina Diyas in 6-3, 6-0 to reach her first Wimbledon quarter final. Halep's for has been quite incredible in 2014 and also last year, so it wouldn't surprise if Halep was able to reach the final at Wimbledon as well, and with no Sharapova in her way she just might succeed.
Right so that's it for the ladies for now and I will be back soon with the men's.
See you in a mo.....
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