Former champion Angelique Kerber prevailed in a three-set marathon over Sara Sorribes Tormo while Elina Svitolina became the latest high se...
Former champion Angelique Kerber prevailed in a three-set marathon over Sara Sorribes Tormo while Elina Svitolina became the latest high seed to fall early at Wimbledon on Thursday.
Among the winners, top seed Asheigh Barty and 17 year old Coco Gauff progressed on Centre Court.
Kerber, who beat Serena Williams in the 2018 final and won the Bad Homburg title last week, had match points in the second set but the Spaniard save them and forced a decider. The third set was a battle of survival as both players broke serve before the German came through after three hours and 18 minutes.
How to seal an epic, courtesy of @AngeliqueKerber #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/kjKUmgwtRl
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 1, 2021
Top seed Barty produced a far from perfect performance in her 6-4, 6-3 win over Russia’s Anna Blinkova but she stayed on track at SW 19. The world No 1 was not at her best serving several double faults and making unforced errors regularly against a 22-year-old opponent who was far from over-awed by being on Centre Court or Barty’s top-ranked status.
Barty, though, having battled right arm and left hip injuries this year eventually prevailed, breaking Blinkova’s serve to take the match.
The Australian, who has never got further than the fourth round at Wimbledon, plays...
