Kevin Anderson, the 2018 runner-up, was dumped out of Wimbledon on Friday, leaving just four of the top 10 seeds in the tournament.
Anderson, whose season has been interrupted by an elbow injury, slumped to a shock third round 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(4) defeat to Argentina’s Guido Pella, the 26th seed.
Only four remain
The South African’s defeat means that only Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori remain of the top 10 seeds who started out. Pella goes on to face 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic for a place in the quarter-finals.
“I don’t know how to describe this,” said Pella, who had never gone beyond the third round of a Grand Slam tournament in seven years. “I played an unbelievable three sets.”
In the women’s event, Czech third seed Karolina Pliskova reached the fourth round for the second successive year with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win over Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan.
Pliskova will next face compatriot Karolina Muchova, the World No. 68, who put out Estonian 20th seed Anett Kontaveit 7-6(7), 6-3.
Muchova is making her Wimbledon debut as is 19-year-old Dayana Yastremska and the 35th-ranked Ukrainian marked the occasion by also making the last 16.
She put out Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic 7-5, 6-3 and next meets unseeded Chinese player Zhang Shuai.
World No. 60 Zhang made the fourth round for the first time, coming back from 0-4 down in the opening set to beat former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2. Before this year, the 30-year-old Zhang had never won a main draw match at Wimbledon in five attempts.
Previous struggles
It was a record which reflected her previous struggles — she was 0-14 at the Slams until she broke through to the 2016 Australian Open quarterfinals. On Friday, she fired 26 winners against just eight for Wozniacki, the 2018 Australian Open champion.
Wozniacki's affection for the tournament would not have been helped by her unhappiness at what she claimed to be a number of poor calls by Hawk-Eye.
“You trust that it tells you the right thing. Sometimes you do see the balls a little differently than Hawk-Eye,” said the 28-year-old.
The umpire, she claimed, offered to get the system looked at — for the next match on Court Two. “Well, I don't have a next match,” she grumbled.
Raonic, the 15th seed, reached the fourth round for the fifth time by seeing off the sport’s tallest man Reilly Opelka of the United States 7-6(1), 6-2, 6-1.
France’s Benoit Paire booked a last 16 place for the second time with a 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3, 7-6(2) win over Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely. He will meet Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut who stunned Russian 10th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-1.
Meanwhile in men’s doubles, Divij Sharan kept the Indian interest alive by reaching the pre-quarterfinals with partner Marcelo Demoliner, quelling a spirited fight from Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen here Friday.
Battling hard for over three hours, Sharan and his Brazilian partner eked out a 7-6(1), 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-4 win over the Belgian pair.
Paes out
In mixed doubles, veteran Leander Paes crashed out in the first round as he and his Australian partner Samantha Stosur lost to British pair of Eden Silva and Evan Hoyt 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
Nadal 50th win
Meanwhile on Thursday, Rafael Nadal defeated Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3) in a stormy and bad-tempered second round encounter on Centre Court.
It was Nadal’s 50th win at the tournament as he continues his push for a third Wimbledon title and 19th Major.
