Photo Source: Camera Sport
A tournament of upsets? Seed carnage? Sure, but there’s a familiar face at the top of the women’s singles draw, and she’s not done in her quest to inject a bit of seed normalcy into these Championships.
Aryna Sabalenka defeated her former doubles partner Elise Mertens, 6-4 7-6(4), to reach the quarterfinals at the All England Club on Sunday. The World No.1, who is the only Grand Slam champion in her top half of the draw, has yet to drop a set at Wimbledon, and she’ll face surprise quarterfinalist Laura Seigemund of Germany next.
Sabalenka, 27, has been a pillar of consistency at the majors in the last three years. She has now reached 11 consecutive quarterfinals at the majors, and her 16 match wins at the majors is more than any other player on tour. All that she is missing this year is the Slam title. The three-time champion has lost both of her major finals in three sets this year, and she’d like to remedy that situation this weekend at SW19.
She improved to 11-2 lifetime over Mertens (with 10 consecutive wins), winning a close-fought contest that featured 36 winners against 25 unforced errors and 32 of 38 first-serve points won.
Sabalenka had to rally from 3-1 down in the second set, and eventually came through in a tiebreak to stretch her run of consecutive tiebreaks won to 14. The first set wasn’t uncomplicated either. Sabalenka squandered a 4-1 lead and had to win the final two games to take it.
Nevertheless the victory was further proof that Sabalenka is immune to the carnage at Wimbledon – or any other major. She may not have a Slam title to her name this year, but she is doing everything in her power to give herself another chance.
Siegemund’s Dream Continues
Laura Siegemund, who took out Madison Keys to keep the carnage theme rolling earlier in week one, reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal with a win over Argentinian Lucky Loser Solana Sierra on Sunday, 6-3 6-2. The 37-year-old German is the oldest woman to reach their maiden Wimbledon quarterfinal in the Open Era – by a mile!