Williams to face unseeded Italian Camila Giorgi in last eight on Tuesday; Seventh seed Karolina Pliskova becomes latest high-profile casualty
Monday 9 July 2018 17:53, UK
Seven-time champion Serena Williams produced a dominant performance to ease past the challenge of qualifier Evgeniya Rodina and reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
The former world No 1 started the second week at the All England Club with a ruthless display against the world No 120 to win 6-2 6-2 in 62 minutes.
Williams is yet to lose a set at this year's Championships in what is her second Grand Slam appearance since the birth of her first child and she will next meet unseeded Italian Camila Giorgi on Tuesday.
The 25th seed began the match with an effortless backhand winner in her opening service game and broke Rodina at the first time of asking to secure the early initiative.
Rodina, playing in her seventh match of the tournament after coming through qualifying, appeared laboured in the early stages but showed encouraging signs with some crisp ball striking.
The Russian brought up a break point in the seventh game of the first set but that was saved in a flash and a second break secured the first set in half an hour.
Just as in the first set Williams broke Rodina early in the second to move 2-0 ahead but she lost her serve in the fifth game to bring her opponent back on serve.
That only appeared to increase Williams' intensity as she broke back immediately before she broke once again to stay on course for her eighth Wimbledon title and 24th Grand Slam victory.
Giorgi defeated former quarter-finalist Ekaterina Makarova, who had knocked out second seed Caroline Wozniacki in the second round, 6-3 6-4 to reach her maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.
Williams' hopes of an eighth Wimbledon singles title had been aided earlier in the day with the departure of seventh seed Karolina Pliskova, who lost 6-3 7-6 (7-1) to 20th seed Kiki Bertens.
The Czech player's exit means all the top 10 seed seeds have been eliminated from the draw before the quarter-finals.
Bertens will next play Julia Goerges after the German 13th seed defeated Donna Vekic 6-3 6-2.
Angelique Kerber, a two-time Grand Slam champion, is now the highest ranked seed left in the draw after she defeated dangerous unseeded Swiss Belinda Bencic 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
The world No 10 will play 14th seed Daria Kasatkina, who recovered from losing the first set on a tiebreak to advance to her first Wimbledon qiater-final with a 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-2 win over Alison Van Uytvanck.
Dominika Cibulkova proved too strong for Hsieh Su-Wei, as the Taiwanese player was unable to back up her impressive victory over world No 1 Simona Halep in the third round.
The opening eight games of the match went against serve but once Cibulkova took the opener she dominated proceedings to reach the last eight.
The Slovak will now face Jelena Ostapenko after last year's French Open finalist defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6 (7-4) 6-0.
The 12th seed from Latvia trailed by 5-2 in the first set but hit back before racing through the second set to maintain her progress through the field without losing a set.
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Our next tennis action comes from the German Open in Hamburg. Watch the action live on Sky Sports Arena from Monday, July 23 from 10am.
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