V. Williams needs just 64 minutes to win
5-time champ to face third straight player born in 1997, the year of her pro debut
With a wave and quick pirouette to a Centre Court audience just beginning to amass for the usual tripleheader, Williams headed toward an odd Wimbledon wrinkle. When she opposes Jelena Ostapenko today in the quarterfinals, Williams will have played three straight women born in 1997, the year Williams began on the WTA Tour with a second-round showing at the French Open, a first-round showing at Wimbledon and a burst to the final at the U.S. Open.
On Centre Court, Williams won all her nine service games, faced only two break points, crackled with 24 winners (to 12 for Konjuh) and made only 13 unforced errors in a performance that was reasonably close to airtight. Her groundstrokes often induced gasps, quite something for a player whose first title here (of five) came 17 years ago, and whose Wimbledons from 2011 to 2015 went fourth round, first round, absent, third round and fourth round.
The match took but 64 minutes, and it wouldn’t have been that long had Konjuh not rallied from a love-40 hole in her final service game, at 1-5, with the talent that made her a junior sensation, and which was on display during a first trip to Centre Court. It just wasn’t on display quite enough.
Williams, who last won the title at the All England Club in 2008, is playing at the grass-court major for the 20th time in her career. Her Wimbledon debut came a few months before Konjuh was born.
“Winning never gets old at any stage in your career, ever, ever,” Williams said.
In an impressive follow-up to her stunning French Open title, Ostapenko, 20, defeated No. 5-ranked Elina Svitolina of Ukraine on Monday, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6).
“I think I’ll see what happens when I get out there,” Williams said of Ostapenko. “I mean, I’m sure she hits well off all sides. I have to see what the nuances are once the game starts, because you can’t necessarily plan for those.”
Ostapenko had never before been past the third round at a major tournament prior to this year’s French Open. She was the first woman to win her debut tour-level title at a Grand Slam tournament since 1979.
At Wimbledon, Ostapenko is into the quarterfinals for the first time. However, she won the girls’ title at the All England Club in 2014.
“I think I play better with every match, also like at the French,” Ostapenko said. “So I hope I can keep it up.”
Top-ranked Angelique Kerber, who reached the Wimbledon final last year but lost to Serena Williams, was beaten by Garbine Muguruza on No. 2 Court, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
With the loss by Kerber, either Simona Halep or Karolina Pliskova will take over as the top-ranked player after the tournament. Halep also advanced Monday, while Pliskova lost in the second round.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Magdalena Rybarikova, CoCo Vandeweghe and Johanna Konta also advanced to the quarterfinals.
Kuznetsova was the first to finish her match on Monday, beating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-4.
The seventh-seeded Russian is a two-time Grand Slam champion who will be playing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the fourth time. She has never advanced past that stage.
In the quarterfinals, Kuznetsova will face Muguruza.
Rybarikova, who beat Pliskova in the second round, defeated Petra Martic of Croatia 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 and advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time.