Muguruza makes light work of Cirstea
Former finalist into fourth round, Dimitrov benefits from Sela injury, Querrey polishes off Tsonga
>> LONDON: Former runner-up Garbine Muguruza continued her untroubled progress at Wimbledon with a 6-2, 6-2 thrashing of Romania’s Sorana Cirstea to reach the fourth round yesterday.
Cirstea, who reached the third round after American opponent Bethanie Mattek-Sands suffered a horrible knee injury on Thursday, matched Muguruza for power but made too many errors to pose a serious threat to the 14th seed.
The Romanian held on to her opening service game with an ace but Muguruza was quickly into her groove and reeled off the next five games before Cirstea managed to stem the tide briefly.
The same happened in the second set. Cirstea again held in the opening game with a backhand winner, before Muguruza changed gear and went on a five-game streak.
Muguruza, 23, showed there was more to her game than power with some silky drop shots as she powered on to victory in a little over an hour on Court Two.
She will face top seed Angelique Kerber or American Shelby Rogers in the next round.
Another former Grand Slam champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, eased into the second week with a 6-4, 6-0 defeat of Polona Hercog of Slovenia.
In the men’s singles, Grigor Dimitrov enjoyed an easy one-hour workout to reach the fourth round after his opponent, Dudi Sela, became the ninth player to retire from the men’s draw.
The Israeli needed attention on what appeared to be a groin injury and ended up going off court with the trainer at the end of the first set to receive treatment.
The 10-minute interruption failed to throw Dimitrov off stride and once he was up 6-1, 6-1, Sela indicated he could no longer continue.
The Bulgarian 13th seed will face either title favourite and seven-time champion Roger Federer or Germany’s Mischa Zverev.
Sam Querrey needed just five minutes to book his place in the last 16 as the American 24th seed finished off his delayed third round clash with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Querrey and Tsonga had to come back to play the remainder of the final set yesterday after their marathon tie was halted due to bad light late on Friday evening.
With Tsonga on serve, Querrey immediately broke to seal a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-5 victory over the French 12th seed.
“I’ve been in this situation a couple of times before. It’s kind of strange we ended on one game,” Querrey said.
“It’s really the most anticlimactic way to finish a match. It’s a little bit of a bummer.”
Querrey, who shocked Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year, faces South Africa’s Kevin Anderson for a place in the quarter-finals.
PAINFUL, EMOTIONAL HOURS
Bethanie Mattek-Sands admitted yesterday that she had endured a “painful and emotional 36 hours” after suffering a sickening knee injury which shocked Wimbledon.
The 32-year-old American is being treated in a nearby private hospital where she was taken on Thursday after her knee appeared to buckle as she approached the net in her second round clash with Sorana Cirstea on Court 17.
She was left screaming in pain: “Please, help me, please, please” in scenes so distressing that TV cameras panned away from the stricken star.
Mattek-Sands said yesterday she would hold a Facebook live session to provide an update on her condition.
“To the best family, friends and fans a girl could ask for, it’s been a painful & emotional 36 hrs but THANK YOU for all the love and support,” tweeted the winner of 24 doubles titles including seven at the majors.