Zimpapers Logo

LONDON. – Women’s top seed Angelique Kerber will lose her world number one tennis ranking after being beaten by Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round at Wimbledon, while five-time champion Venus Williams became the oldest All England Club quarter-finalist in 23 years yesterday.

Meanwhile, Britain will have men’s and women’s quarter-finalists at Wimbledon for the first time since 1973 after wins for Andy Murray and Johanna Konta yesterday. Sixth seed Konta beat France’s Caroline Garcia 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-4 on Court One to become the first British woman to reach the last eight since 1984.

Defending champion and top seed Murray then saw off Frenchman Benoit Paire 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court. Konta will play Romanian second seed Simona Halep today.

Murray takes on American Sam Querrey or Kevin Anderson of South Africa on Wednesday. It is 44 years since Britain last had a man and woman in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, when Roger Taylor and Virginia Wade made the last eight, and 33 years since Jo Durie was the last British woman to make it that far.

“When I was a little girl, and even now, I dreamed of being in these battles and on the big stages,” Konta told BBC Sport after her victory.

French Open champion Rafael Nadal’s hopes of a third Wimbledon title were crushed by Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller as the Spaniard lost 6-3 6-4 3-6 4-6 15-13 in the fourth round.

The 31-year-old Spaniard battled back from losing the first two sets on Court One but left-hander Muller pounced in the 28th game of the decider for a stunning victory. Muller will face Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals.

Croatian seventh seed Marin Cilic reached a fourth successive Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win over Roberta Bautista Agut of Spain.

Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, will look to reach his first semifinal at the All England Club when he faces Nadal or Muller.

Muguruza, the 14th seed and a runner-up at SW19 in 2015, won an enthralling match against Kerber 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes on Court Two.

The German, a finalist in 2016, had needed to reach Saturday’s final to have a chance of retaining her ranking.

Muguruza (23) will play Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the last eight.

Big-hitting Muguruza was encouraged to go on the attack by her coach Conchita Martinez, the 1994 champion who is still the only Spanish woman to win Wimbledon. The 14th seed’s ferocious backhand began to misfire at a crucial time at the end of the first set but she continued her assault and was soon level.

Kerber’s counter-punching style meant she was far steadier throughout but she eventually cracked at the end of a topsy-turvy deciding set.

The 29-year-old German lost in the final here last year, and was controversially overlooked for a slot on Centre Court or Court One, which featured four of the men’s last-16 matches yesterday and only two of the women.

Kerber initially seemed unhappy with the condition of Court Two, kicking the patches of dust by the baseline after repeatedly losing her footing in the early stages of the match.

She won two of the four Grand Slam tournaments in 2016 but has not reached the quarter-finals at any of the three she has played in 2017, and will be replaced as number one by Romania’s Simona Halep, 25, [who plays Victoria Azarenka in the last 16], if she reaches the semi-finals.

If Halep does not reach the last four, 25-year-old Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic will move to top spot despite her second round exit at Wimbledon.

Granted showcourt billing, Venus Williams didn’t hang around as she crushed 19-year-old Croatian Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-2 in 64 minutes on Centre Court.

Venus Williams made her Grand Slam debut at the 1997 French Open, seven months before Konjuh was born.

And at 37 years and 29 days, Venus Williams is Wimbledon’s oldest female quarter-finalist since Martina Navratilova in 1994. Seven-time major winner Venus Williams, who clinched the last of her Wimbledon titles in 2008, will hope to emulate Navratilova, who went on to reach the final 23 years ago.

Venus Williams plays French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko for a place in the semi-finals.

Ostapenko advanced to her first Wimbledon quarter-final after finally converting her eighth match point to defeat Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).

Latvian 13th seed Ostapenko, the 2014 junior Wimbledon champion, squandered seven match points in the second set before eventually seeing off the Ukrainian world number five to make just her second last eight appearance at a major. The 20-year-old’s triumph in Paris last month made her only the third player born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam. Kuznetsova reached her first Wimbledon quarter-final in 10 years with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Polish ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

Kuznetsova, a former US and French Open champion, crushed 37 winners in her 14th victory in 18 meetings with Radwanska. The 32-year-old has never made it to the Wimbledon semi-finals and last reached that stage at a Grand Slam in the 2009 French Open. Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova is into her maiden Grand Slam quarter-final after a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win over Croatian qualifier Petra Martic.

Rybarikova (28) had failed to make the last eight in all 35 of her previous Grand Slam appearances, losing in the Wimbledon first round for seven successive years between 2008 and 2014.

Next up for the world number 87, who has 17 wins from 18 grass-court matches this year, is a clash with either former world number one Caroline Wozniacki or American 24th seed Coco Vandeweghe. – BBC Sport.