If yesterday was the day of the Brits, then you could definitely say today was for the Americans…
Day three inside the Andy Murray Arena started with the Championships’ 3rd seed and world no.10, Emma Navarro, up against Beatriz Hadad Maia, who knocked out Petra Kvitova in the first round. Straight away in the first set, Hadad Maia had Navarro on the backfoot, breaking the American’s serve in the first game of the match. Throughout the first set, Navarro seemed to struggle with Hadad Maia’s power and didn’t seem to be able to get a foothold in her service games. A really positive start from the Brazilian saw her win the first set 6-1. Navarro got a much needed early break in the second set, showing more intent and signs that she was beginning to find her rhythm. However, early progress by the American in the second set was stunted when Hadad Maia broke back to make it 2-2. After a long battle on deuce at 3-4, where Hadad Maia had four break points, Navarro managed to cling on and get the all important hold. This one went all the way to a tie break, with Navarro coming out the 7-4 winner – we were going into a 3rd ! This was a close contest, but with Navarro finding her form, she always looked the more assured in the final set. She got the break when it mattered most and served for the match, winning it with her third match point. The final score was 1-6, 7-6, 6-3, after a thrilling 2 hours and 47 minutes out on a very sunny Centre Court.
Second up on Centre Court – British wildcard Sonay Kartal, who got the biggest win of her career here at Queen’s on Monday, up against America’s Amands Anisimova, the world no.15. Anisimova stomped her authority on the match from the get go, sealing a double break to make it 4-0 before anyone could even blink. She cruised to a 6-1 victory in the first set, proving too much for the Brit. Kartal became more competitive in the second set but still struggled to keep up with the promising young American. The match finished 6-1, 6-3 – setting up an all American quarter-final between Amanda Anisimova and Emma Navarro.
Over on Court 1 today, crowd favourites Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu were back for another doubles appearance. They faced a tough draw, coming up against the top seeds Routliffe and Kichenok. It’s fair to say the lack of doubles experience for the home pair told against their expert opponents in the first set as they lost out 6-1. It was still a great atmosphere on the court and there were plenty of smiles from Boulter and Raducanu, but the match ended 6-2, 7-5 – leaving the two Brits to focus on their singles. Court 1 also had the only real upset of the day. The sixth seed Karolina Muchova fell to German veteran Tatjana Maria who came from behind to seal victory in three sets. This was only the second longest match of the day, a battle lasting 2 hours 35 minutes that finished 6-7, 7-5, 6-1.
The final match of the day saw the Andy Murray Arena welcome the Australian Open Champion, Madison Keys. She faced qualifier Anastasia Zakharova. Would Keys be able to make it a clean sweep for the American players here today in the second round. Zakharovia impressed the crowd on Centre Court by making a promising start to the match, showing her power and getting an early break against Keys. Keys however hit her stride as the game went on. The Grand Slam champion showed her quality and did what she needed to do in what was a somewhat straightforward tie. The match finished 6-3, 6-2, completing the set for the Americans.
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