adminLONDON. — Former Wimbledon champion Venus Williams crashed out of the tournament in the third round yesterday after a three-set loss to sixth seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
Caroline Wozniacki saw off the youngest player left in the women’s draw as the former world No 1 defeated highly-fancied Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh in the third round.
Venus lost 5-7, 7-6 (2), 5-7.
Danish 16th seed Wozniacki beat the promising 16-year-old 6-3, 6-0 in an hour and 10 minutes on Court Three.
Wozniacki will face Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the fourth round.
Chinese second seed Li Na suffered a shock third round exit after going down 7-6(5) 7-6(5) to the Czech Republic’s Strycova.
The Australian Open champion has never felt comfortable on the slick lawns of the All England Club, with her best showing being three quarter-final appearances in eight visits.
She is the highest seed to fall so far at this year’s championships.
French Open runner-up Simona Halep survived a real test against lowly-ranked Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko to reach the third round for the first time.
The third seed eventually won 6-3 4-6 6-4 on a blustery Court Two but struggled to shine against the world No 170.
After taking the first set and establishing a healthy lead in the second she seemed set for routine progress, if a day late after Thursday’s rain, but she went off the boil.
Muttering and glancing at her support team, Halep briefly looked as though she might be in trouble but she recovered to forge ahead in a tense deciding set.
She blew two match points at 5-2 but overcame the jitters to claim victory two games later.
Halep has raced up the rankings over the last year, improving with each grand slam since reaching the fourth round of the US Open in 2013. She exited Wimbledon at the second round stage last year.
The Romanian will face Swiss 17-year-old Belinda Bencic, last year’s junior champion, next. — SuperSport.
Online Reporter