Defending champion wins 6-1, 6-1 on damp Centre Court at Roland Garros
• World No1 to face the unseeded Yulia Putintseva for semi-final spot
• World No1 to face the unseeded Yulia Putintseva for semi-final spot
Serena Williams swatted aside the limp challenge of Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday, to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open.
The world No1 rarely sparkled on a damp, dank Centre Court at Roland Garros, but always wielded enough firepower to see off the Ukrainian 18th seed in a match that was delayed by two days because of the fickle Parisian weather.
Empty green seats outnumbered raincoat-clad fans by around five to one on the showcourt, and the heavy, slow balls meant there was little artistry to entice greater numbers.
Although spluttering from time to time – Williams fired the odd serve alarmingly long, and hit the occasional simple groundstroke into the net – the No1 seed always did enough to neuter her scurrying opponent.
The American defending champion will play the unseeded Yulia Putintseva for a spot in the semi-finals after the Kazakhstan player defeated the No12 seed Carla Suarez Navarro 7–5, 7–5.
Putintseva, ranked 60th in the world, reached the quarter-finals at a major tournament for the first time as her opponent won fewer than half of the points on her serve, made 21 unforced errors and was broken four times in losing the first set.
Serena’s sister, Venus, however, succumbed to the No8 seed Timea Bacsinsky in straight sets. Williams, seeded one spot lower than her opponent, failed to reach the French Open quarter-finals for the first time in a decade, after a 6-2, 6-4 defeat in a match that should have been played on Monday. Against the Swiss player, Williams managed to produce only six winners, while committing 24 unforced errors.
Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands will play Bacsinsky next after reaching her first grand slam quarter-final by beating the 15th seed Madison Keys 7-6 (4), 6-3. The 58th-ranked Bertens had upset the No3 seed Angelique Kerber, the Australian Open champion, in the first round.
0 Comments