Venus Williams, Madison Keys join the list of fallen seeds at Wimbledon

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Wilson Blade 9

We’re only through the fifth day and only two of the Top 10 seeds are still alive in the draw, as Americans Venus Williams and Madison Keys lost their third-round matches at Wimbledon, the first in the Open Era that six of the Top 8 women’s seeds hadn’t reached the third round.

The tenth-seeded Keys was defeated by Russian world No.120 Evgeniya Rodina 7-5 5-7 6-4 in an encounter characterized by huge shifts in momentum — after going 5-2 up, Keys lost nine consecutive games, then produced a superb fightback by winning eight games in a row and eventually Rodina won the scrappy third set to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time.

After allowing Rodina to come back from 2-5 to 5-5 in the first set, Keys let the nerves get the best of her, and even though she later won so many consecutive games, after the loss she described the match by saying: “Today was a massive mishandle of nerves.”

Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, seeded ninth this year, was beaten by Dutch Kiki Bertens 6-2 6-7(5) 8-6 in two hours and 40 minutes. Trailing 5-1 in the first set, Williams saved a set point on her serve to avoid being broken for a fourth time, but eventually the 20th-seeded Bertens closed out the set with an ace. Bertens missed a chance to serve out for the match at 5-4 up in the second set and, after leveling at 5-5, Williams went on to win the tiebreak. In the decider, Bertens came back from 0-2 down and then always had the upper hand in the long third set to reach the second week of Wimbledon for the first time.

Seed No.25 Serena Williams battled past France’s Kristina Mladenovic to advance into the fourth round and seventh seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, one of only two Top 10 seeds left standing, got back from being a set and 4-1 down to get past Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu and move into the last 16.

2 COMMENTS

  1. What did I tell you guys about Madison Keys? I’m not putting her down, but I just don’t understand her at all. It’s so obvious she’s got the game and skills but lacks longevity on the court and just doesn’t know how to consistently close out matches. I don’t know who those men were in her box, but does that mean she finally got rid of Lindsey Davenport? As much as I like Davenport, she is not the coach to groom Keys into a Grand Slam champion. I so want her to hurry up and win a major! It saddens and infuriates me to see her lose a match, time and time again, the way she did today against Rodina. It just makes no sense whatsoever that she had the win right in the palm of her hands and let it all suddenly slip away. I mean, even her opponent had a leg wrap, an obvious injury; the woman was even limping at times. “Lord, please let Maddie find the right coach ASAP!” In the meantime, how about that super woman, Serena Williams? Went away and had a baby in super dangerous mode and comes back, still getting the job done. And don’t forget: Won the 2017 AO with said baby in her womb. I was just wondering: Has any other female tennis player in the history of the sport done that? I predict…well, you know. The GOAT takes it all!

  2. Don’t sweat it Venus. Amazing living legend still. Out there slaying a bunch of youngsters, showing ’em you can still get it done at age 38. Jelena O…looking good, girl!

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