Simona Halep completed the Wimbledon 2017 quarterfinal field by beating Victoria Azarenka, whose fourth-round showing can be considered a great achievement, given that this is her first Grand Slam since pregnancy leave. With world No.1 Angelique Kerber losing to Garbine Muguruza earlier today, Halep has a good chance of climbing to the top of the WTA rankings, as she’s now just one victory away from that feat.
Azarenka held a 2-0 and then a 4-2 lead in the opening set, but Halep recovered to force a tiebreak, eventually winning the set with the stats showing she’s won just one point more than Azarenka. In the lopsided second set, Halep raced to a 5-0 lead and even though Azarenka then won two consecutive games and saved four match points, the Romanian second seed capitalized on her fifth match point, 7-6(3) 6-2, and reached the quarterfinals where she’ll face sixth seed Johanna Konta, who defeated Caroline Garcia 7-6(3) 4-6 6-4 to become the first British woman to make the Wimbledon last eight since 1984.
With the WTA fourth-round action completed, the other quarterfinal pairs are: Garbine Muguruza [14] vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova [7], Magdalena Rybarikova vs. Coco Vandeweghe [24] and Venus Williams [10] vs. Jelena Ostapenko [13].
Ostapenko is doing so well. Just like Ivanovic in 2007 going to final of RG then semifinal of Wimbledon.
Let’s see how she’s adapting when the age, expectation and others start hitting her.
I’ll be rooting for Halep but I won’t be surprised if she succumbs to Konta (and the homecrowd)
I’m excited for Venus vs Ostapenko!
Alona is really playing well! She can also win Wimbledon. That would be insane… winning the first two titles of your career, both on Grand Slam level! Simona has a greater chance of being World No.1 post Wimbledon.