It was a day that saw many shocks on the Men’s side and the Women’s side. Here is the roundup of the latter’s day of tennis:
Carla Suarez-Navarro d. Maria Sharapova 6-2 4-6 6-2
On a surface which is far from her strongest, Suarez-Navarro notched one of the biggest scalps of her career beating Maria Sharapova. After winning the first set 6-2, she managed to break Sharapova to go up 2-0 in the second set and establish herself as a strong favourite for the match. However this break ended up being the first of 6 breaks in a row which culminated in the set being level at 4-4 before Sharapova took a vital break and held serve to take the second set 6-4. The third set started uninspiringly with the first 3 games going to serve; then Suarez-Navarro took control breaking to lead 3-1 before losing serve to bring the match back on serve at 3-2. At this point it seemed that Sharapova would assert her authority and go on to win, however Suarez Navarro proceeded to break again before holding serve to take a 5-2 lead. In Sharapova’s final service game it wasn’t ideal for her to go down 15:40, but she did and although she saved the first match point she was powerless to stop Suarez-Navarro taking the second match point and sealing her place in the next round.
Ekaterina Makarova d. Petra Kvitova 6-4 1-6 6-2
In a match that many expected Kvitova to win, the first set almost seemed irrelevant with Kvitova having man matches that she has persevered in, winning in three sets. With one break in the first set, Makarova managed to take the first set 6-4, needing five set points before eventually closing it out. The next set went as most predicted with Kvitova winning the first three games before dropping one on Makarova’s serve to make the set 3-1. This ended up being the one game preventing Kvitova from bagelling Makarova as she won the next three games to take the set 6-1. Judging purely on past form, the final set should have been written in stone with Kvitova strolling to the win; not in this case though. Makarova proved soid in the final set breaking at 2-1 to take a 3-1 lead and then consolidating to put herself in a great position to win the match. With Kvitova serving to stay in the match at 5-2, Makarova had her first match point which Kvitova saved before missing many opportunities to hold serve. This proved vital as on her next match point Makarova took the opportunity, taking the third set 6-2 and beating the Wimbledon champion in an unexpected victory.
Agniezksa Radwanska d Sabine Lisicki 6-1 3-6 6-3:
A match in which many predicted a surprise result with Radwanska not playing her tennis and Lisicki knocking out Madison Keys in the last round ended up with the Pole winning in 3 sets. Taking the initiative in the first set to break at 2-1,t aking a 3-1 lead, Radwanska then took the next three games to win the set with ease, dealing Lisicki a bread stick in the process. The second set went the way of the server for the first 5 games with Lisicki breaking the duck, breaking to take a 4-2. This could not be consolidated however and Radwanska fired straight back with a break herself; Lisicki was having none of it though and proceeded to break again and serve out the set, taking it on her first set point. The final set was taken 6-3 by Radwanska who managed to break twice, of which Lisicki recovered one break. She could do nothing however with Radwanska serving for the match at 5-3, racing to 40:15 and taking the match with her first match point.
Best of the rest:
Lucie Safarova went down fighting to Serena Williams who took a 7-5 6-4 win in a match which Safarova got broke twice when serving to stay in the set. Coco Vandeweghe won an entertaining match up against Jelena Jankovic, after losing the first set tie-break 7-9, Vandeweghe managed to force a second set tie-break in which she reversed the score from the first set to take it to a tie-break. The final set saw seven breaks of serve with the 7th being the all-important break for Vandeweghe as she continued her form for the year. There was an easy win for Caroline Wozniacki who continued her resurgence, beating Shelby Rogers 6-1 6-0. Victoria Azarenka managed to negotiate a tricky tie against Heather Watson, coming through 6-2 6-4 to book her place into the next round where she will face her Australian Open conqueror, Radwanska. Last but not least, Venus Williams won a tricky match-up against Angelique Kerber, edging her German opponent 6-3 3-6 6-4.