After a clammy weekend, Wimbledon entered the business end of the tournament with a spell of sweet sunshine. The clarity of the day, interrupted by a sharp and unexpected spell of spitting rain, seemed to complement the weight of expectations and the soundness of the draw.
Yes, Alize Cornet’s resolutely clean hitting had brought top-seeded Serena Williams down on Saturday before a stunned audience.
But for the most part, Manic Monday — on which ordinarily all men and women pre-quarterfinalists compete in one frenzied day — wore a comforting familiarity, bearing no resemblance to its counterpart in 2013. Last year, the carnage caused by an inexplicable string of upsets and injuries had seen off the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marin Cilic, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka by this stage.
The honour of kicking off proceedings on Centre Court was accorded to Saturday’s Serena Slayer, pitted against Eugenie Bouchard, who has a very similar playing style.
Both women are stronger off their two-handed backhands, hit their first serves flat, are comfortable at the net, and complement their power with some deft lobs and drop shots.
The match may not have boasted of great star appeal, but the quality of tennis, characterised by strong deep hitting that had both players being run ragged around the baseline, matched anything the higher seeds could have thrown up.
In the end it was Bouchard who prevailed, pulling away from her opponent in the first-set tie-breaker.
Cornet did have her chances in the set but failed to convert three break points and to capitalise on Bouchard’s 17 unforced errors against her relatively meagre six.
The loss of the first set saw Cornet getting more aggressive; she broke to go up 3-2 after holding her own in some long baseline exchanges and then eagerly gobbling up a short second serve. It was then Bouchard’s turn to fight back to level 5-5, achieved with a peach of a cross-court drop shot and a screaming backhand return of serve down the line.
From then on, the Canadian was more or less unstoppable winning 7-5.
On Court No 1, Sabine Lisicki won the unfinished third-round match against Ana Ivanovic, who had been booed off court on Saturday for seemingly attempting to force the umpire to call off play after losing the first set 6-4 and at 1-1 in the second.
The former World No.1, now seeded a humbling 11, won the second set, winning 59 per cent of the points and preventing the big-hitting German from doing what she loves -- imposing her style on the match and directing the rallies as she wants to.
She broke an oddly subdued Lisicki twice, losing her serve only once, and won 34 of the 58 points in the set.
But as it has so often in the recent past, Ivanovic flattered only to deceive with another maddeningly inconsistent display. The third set took on an entirely different hue with Lisicki all but running away with it, allowing Ivanovic to win a mere 15 points, and intimating along the way that her feisty run to the Wimbledon final last year may have been no flash in the pan.
In other matches, Marin Cilic prevailed over Jeremy Chardy 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-4 to make the quarters and Feliciano Lopez defeated John Isner 6-7(8), 7-6(6), 7-6(6), 7-5 in a third-round match.
