The 8th seed bows out in a surprise as some intriguing 3rd Round matchups are set in an otherwise uneventful day of action.
Another Top Seed Falls on an Otherwise Routine Day 4–Women’s Recap
Who looked good:
Timea Bacsinszky (def. Soler Espinosa 6-2 6-1)
The French Open semifinalist fired 36 winners in 15 games past the overmatched Spaniard while only losing 2 points on her 1st serve (20/22). Eager to prove her run in Paris was no fluke, the 15th seed and Swiss #1 is so far having a splendid follow-up to her breakthrough at Roland Garros.
Magdalena Rybarikova (def. Makarova 6-2 7-5)
The Slovakian played perhaps the finest match of her career in upsetting the 8th seeded Russian, firing 11 aces and committing just five unforced errors. Rybarikova has already matched her career best at a Slam in reaching the 3rd Round and, with a reasonable draw, could go farther if she keeps up this level of play.
Krystina Pliskova (def. Kuznetsova 3-6 6-3 6-4)
Long in the shadow of her twin sister Karolina, Krystina stepped into the spotlight with a victory over the 2-time Slam champion, producing 8 aces and 27 winners in advancing to Round 3 at a major for the first time in her career. Down a set and 5-3 to fellow Czech Tereza Smitkova in the 1st Round, the lefty showed resiliency which has now presented her with an opportunity to reach the second week here.
Who looked bad:
Ekaterina Makarova (l. to Rybarikova 6-2 7-5)
The Russian has reached 2 of the last 3 Slam semifinals and made the quarterfinals here last year. In winning just a paltry 7 of 19 points at net and taking only 2 of her 6 break chances, the 8th seed suffered a first week defeat at a major for the first time since last year’s French Open.
Sabine Lisicki (def. McHale 2-6 7-5 6-1)
The German was down a set and a break before recovering to beat the scrappy American Christina McHale and despite a 6-1 3rd set, double faulted 6 times while committing 34 unforced errors. If the 19th seed hopes to reach the quarterfinals or better for a sixth straight appearance, she’ll have to clean up her game going forward as the competition gets tougher.
Co-Matches of The Day:
Tatjana Maria def. (Q) Ying-Ying Duan 1-6 6-2 10-8
There really was no match that was worthy of this space, but since I have to choose one match for this recap, this was it mainly due to the excitement of the 3rd set, although both players did combine for 70 winners. Duan saved a couple of match points in the 18th game before Maria finally drew one last error on her 3rd match point. In reaching the 3rd Round of a major for the first time in her career, the German’s reward for winning the thrilling final set is a matchup with American Madison Keys.
Krystina Pliskova def. (27) Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6 6-3 6-4
With no one match deserving this space, it takes two to fill it and these two produced some fine tennis in a match that was moved to Court 1 late in the day. Striking 53 winners combined while being almost even in every category, the less heralded of the two Pliskovas gutted out a victory that sees her reach Round 3 at a major for the first time in here career.
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