Seeds cull opens up final path for Williams sisters
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
LONDON, July 1 (AFP): Venus and Serena Williams saw their paths to a Wimbledon final showdown cleared Monday as the cull of the top seeds in the women's singles reached unprecedented levels.
With Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova following world number one Ana Ivanovic and former champion Maria Sharapova out of the tournament, the quarter-final line-up will be missing the top four seeds for the first time in any Grand Slam in the Open era.
There was no sign of the malaise spreading to the Williams sisters, who both eased through their fourth round matches in straight sets before lambasting organisers for having the temerity to put them on court number two, graveyard of so many big names over the years.
Those grumblings will doubtless generate a few headlines but they will have to be shared by the exploits of two unheralded stars from Asia.
For the first time in Wimbledon history there will be two Asians in the quarter-finals after Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn, who sent second seed Jankovic packing, was joined in the last eight by Chinese wildcard Zheng Jie.
For Tamarine, who now faces four-time champion Venus Williams, it was a case of ninth-time lucky as she took advantage of Jankovic's struggles with a knee injury to end a run of eight straight defeats in last-16 matches at Grand Slam tournaments.
A 6-3, 6-2 victory made the 31-year-old the first Thai to reach a Grand Slam quarter and she broke down in tears of joy on Court 18.
The Thai star hailed her breakthrough win as a victory for the game's little people.
"It's great for Asian tennis that Zheng Jie and myself have both made the quarter finals," she said.
"It shows we can produce great tennis and you don't have to be two metres tall or something like that."
Jankovic's departure was anything but gracious. "Quite solid" was the most she would offer in praise of Tamarine's performance before embarking on an extended whinge over the scheduling of her match on an outside court.
With Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova following world number one Ana Ivanovic and former champion Maria Sharapova out of the tournament, the quarter-final line-up will be missing the top four seeds for the first time in any Grand Slam in the Open era.
There was no sign of the malaise spreading to the Williams sisters, who both eased through their fourth round matches in straight sets before lambasting organisers for having the temerity to put them on court number two, graveyard of so many big names over the years.
Those grumblings will doubtless generate a few headlines but they will have to be shared by the exploits of two unheralded stars from Asia.
For the first time in Wimbledon history there will be two Asians in the quarter-finals after Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn, who sent second seed Jankovic packing, was joined in the last eight by Chinese wildcard Zheng Jie.
For Tamarine, who now faces four-time champion Venus Williams, it was a case of ninth-time lucky as she took advantage of Jankovic's struggles with a knee injury to end a run of eight straight defeats in last-16 matches at Grand Slam tournaments.
A 6-3, 6-2 victory made the 31-year-old the first Thai to reach a Grand Slam quarter and she broke down in tears of joy on Court 18.
The Thai star hailed her breakthrough win as a victory for the game's little people.
"It's great for Asian tennis that Zheng Jie and myself have both made the quarter finals," she said.
"It shows we can produce great tennis and you don't have to be two metres tall or something like that."
Jankovic's departure was anything but gracious. "Quite solid" was the most she would offer in praise of Tamarine's performance before embarking on an extended whinge over the scheduling of her match on an outside court.