Staff Reporter.
@Wimbledon.
(Reuters) – Britain’s Heather Watson reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in 43 attempts over 12 years on Friday as she beat Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan 7-6(6) 6-2 in front of a barely believing crowd on Wimbledon Court one.
Watson, 30, has slipped to 121st in the world rankings and fourth in Britain and although she has tasted notable success in doubles, she has never been able to sustain a challenge in singles at the top level, her best Wimbledon performances being reaching the third round three times.
However, riding the wave a relative British success at Wimbledon this year she battled through a testing first set then blasted through the second, albeit via a nervous flutter, to reach the uncharted waters of the second week at a Grand Slam.
“Well, it wouldn’t be me if there wasn’t a bit of drama at the end,” Watson said. “Wow, what an atmosphere. There is nowhere I would rather make round four. I felt like she was playing her best tennis at the end, I wasn’t even that nervous but you guys got me over the line.”
Watson came in to the match on the back of playing on all four previous days, complaining about a lack of sleep as both her matches over-ran into second days.
She needed to find her focus quickly against an awkward and unusual opponent as she traded slices, drop-shots and lobs with 21-year-old,60th-ranked Juvan, who had handed Watson her 10th straight first-round U.S. Open defeat last year.
After a break each the first set went to a tiebreak, where confident returning created three set points for Watson. Juvan saved them all, only to hand the set to Watson with a double fault.
Energised, Watson blasted to a 5-0 lead in the second set, adding power and confidence to her groundstrokes, but Juvan starting swinging freely and, in combination with Watson tightening up, clawed back to 5-2.
The next game was a nail-biter as four times Juvan failed to convert a break point before Watson finally fashioned a first match point and took it in style with a sumptuous drop volley at full stretch to spark a massive roar from the crowd.
“It means everything, playing here at home in front of you guys, the atmosphere is everything,” Watson said. “Please can all of you come back for my fourth round next week.”
Watson will next play German Jule Niemeier, ranked 97th in the world.
JABEUR MAKES FAST WORK OF FORMER JUNIOR NO 1 PARRY
No one could blame Tunisian Ons Jabeur for wanting to get off Wimbledon’s Centre Court in a hurry.
It might be the most famous tennis theatre in the world and a place where anyone who picks up a racket dreams of playing.
But when fans are huddling up in woolly jumpers and pulling on winter jackets in the height of what is supposed to be the British summer, Jabeur made sure she did not hang around longer than necessary as she dispatched former junior number one Diane Parry 6-2 6-3 to reach the fourth round.
The world number two had shown little mercy during her progress to the third round, spending less than two hours on court.
Had she not been broken by 77th-ranked Parry when serving for the first set at 5-0 up, she would have made it into the last 16 by spending less than three hours on court during the first five days of the championships.
That break not only earned 19-year-old Parry, one of four Frenchwomen to reach the third round, a rousing ovation from the Centre Court crowd but boosted her confidence as she raised her game to hit some sublime one-handed backhand winners.
Although the teenager could not rescue the first set, which Jabeur sealed with an ace, she stayed toe-to-toe with the third seed in the second set until 3-3.
But if she had any aspirations of knocking out the world’s second-best player at a second successive slam, having eliminated then world number two Barbora Krejcikova at Roland Garros, Jabeur swiftly moved in to deliver the knockout punch.The 27-year-old North African broke Parry to love in the seventh game and moments later she was celebrating her passage into the last 16 — having been kept on court for 68 minutes.
“It was a great match for me. It was good to finish the match in two sets and hopefully I can continue playing this way,” said Jabeur as she targets improving on her 2021 quarter-final appearance at the All England Club.
She will next meet either 2018 Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber or Belgian 24th seed Elise Mertens.
MARIA STUNS SAKKARI
Germany’s Tatjana Maria, at 34 the oldest player left in the women’s draw, knocked fifth seed Maria Sakkari out 6-3 7-5 Friday to make the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
Ranked 103rd, the mother of two returned from maternity leave just under a year ago and rallied from 3-0 down in the deciding set to defeat Sorana Cirstea in her previous round for a first win over a top-50 player in more than two years.
Maria will next face 12th-seeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, for a place in the quarterfinals of the grasscourt major.
Greek Sakkari, who reached the French and US. Open semifinals last year, made 30 unforced errors and could only convert one of her seven breakpoint opportunities.
MERTENS BEAT FORMER CHAMP KERBER
Belgian Elise Mertens stayed solid against an error-prone Angelique Kerber of Germany to defeat the former champion 6-4 7-5 and reach the fourth round.
Mertens achieved her best showing at the grasscourt Grand Slam in 2019 when she reached the round of 16 and came into Friday’s contest having defeated the three-times major winner in their only previous meeting three years ago.
The 26-year-old Belgian, who reached a career-high ranking of 12th in 2018, had to save two match points against Panna Udvardy in a second-round match that lasted three hours and 15 minutes and stretched over two days.
Her third-round clash was much more comfortable.
Mertens broke the left-handed Kerber’s delivery in the fourth game and served for the opening set at 5-3, only for Kerber to break back.
But the Belgian did not lose her composure and broke the 2018 Wimbledon champion to love.
Appearing in her 51st consecutive major, the 34-year-old Kerber seemed to have got the momentum back when she cracked Mertens’ delivery and took a 5-3 lead in the second set.
But with the former world number one serving to level the match, Mertens broke Kerber and sealed the contest when the German committed her 28th unforced error by sending a return into the net.
Mertens, who won the doubles in 2021, will next meet third seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia for a place in the quarterfinals.