Wimbledon- Ostapenko through, Murray okay, Nadal on fire
Ostapenko pushes past Giorgi and her coughing father
Jelena Ostapenko continues her dream Grand Slam run moving past the round of 32, and being only four matches away from winning both the French and Wimbledon in a single year, a feat that has only been achieved by the likes of Serena Williams and Steffi Graf. And, if she actually manages to achieve the unthinkable, she’d probably be the only player to have only slams to show for tournament wins!
Ostapenko defeated Camila Giorgi from Italy, in a close 7-5, 7-5 match. She played some impressive tennis, hitting almost twice the amount of winners as her opponent, having two less unforced errors, as well as converting five out of eight break point opportunities.
Even though Ostapenko went down 5-2 in the second, she would elevate the level of her game and win within 80 minutes. In the round of 16 she will be facing Elina Svitolina on Monday.
There was a little bit of a spat between Ostapenko and Giorgi‘s father during the match, when Ostapenko told the umpire there was a lot of noise coming from the player’s box while she was serving.
“It was just before my serve, somebody started to cough. I think it’s a little bit unsportsmanlike,” said Ostapenko in her post match press conference.
She would go on to specifically accuse Giorgi’s dad. “I think it was from her dad actually,” Ostapenko said.
Wimbledon lights up with Murray vs. Fognini
Murray makes it past a tough test against Fabio Fognini, winning in four sets 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5. Although Murray would end up winning the match and playing much better by the end of the match, Murray was not that happy with the way he started the match, stating that there were many moments where he was feeling uncomfortable. The problems seem to stem from his hip which has been causing some problems.
“I didn’t feel like I moved as well as I did in the first two matches,” said Murray. He would come back from 5-2 down in the fourth set and save five match points to prevent a fifth set.
Andy Murray also seemed to have a little bit of a problem facing Fognini because he was completely different from his first two opponent, as well as his next round opponent Benoit Paire.
“I was playing against two guys (Alexander Bublik and Dustin Brown) that were hitting drop-shots all the time, coming forward, serve-volleying quite a lot.”
“Then today from Fabio there were a lot more rallies from the back of the court. It’s partly down to the way he plays as well. I felt a little bit off balance.”
With Murray’s hip acting up, he will probably be taking his two days off to fully recuperate and come back strong.
Nadal overcomes Khachanov
Rafael Nadal defeated Karen Khachanov in three sets 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), winning the first set in 21 minutes.
Nadal was dominating throughout the first and second set, and although the third set was a much closer affair, there is no doubt that Nadal was playing fantastically. Nadal broke his opponent three times in the first set, and in the second set Nadal managed to cover a crucial break to win the set.
In the third set Khachanov stepped in closer to the baseline and began to take better control of his service games. Khachanov approached the net 29 times throughout the match, and 23 of those moments were in the third set, where he tried his best to play more aggressive and break Nadal’s rhythm.
Nadal would however grind and pull through, and was quite happy with the way he played.
“For a set and a half I was playing fantastic, then a little bit worse,” reflected Nadal.
“But in general terms, it went very well and I’m very happy. At the beginning of the third set, I had my chances. I should have got the break. It didn’t happen. Then, I had two tough games on my serve. That’s it. I think I played well in the important moments. In the tie-break, I think I played a little bit better than him.”
If Nadal continues to play like this, who knows, he may just win the finals.