Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Li Na Ousted at Wimbledon; Novak Djokovic Advances


WIMBLEDON, England - Second-seeded Li Na, the reigning Australian Open champion, was eliminated, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), by Barbora Zahlavova Strycova on Friday in the first major upset at Wimbledon.


Li, who had advanced to the quarterfinals three times before at Wimbledon, looked out of sorts for most of the third-round match on Court 1. She blew a set point in the second set.


In men's play, top-seeded Novak Djokovic overcame a hard fall in the third set to advance to the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 Centre Court win over Gilles Simon.


Leading, 3-2, in the third set and with Simon serving, Djokovic lunged for a forehand shot and fell hard to the grass, rolling over and grabbing his upper left arm and grimacing in pain.


But after receiving medical treatment, he recovered to play out the match, breaking Simon's serve in the final game, his seventh break in the match.


'It was a sharp pain,' Djokovic said. 'It was an awkward fall. I was just hoping there is nothing really bad with the joint. Luckily there is nothing damaged. I could play. Just the muscle was quite sore because of the impact. All in all, I'm just glad to get through.'


In other men's play, No. 19 Feliciano López of Spain beat Ante Pavic of Croatia, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-5, in a second-round match, and Kevin Anderson beat Fabio Fognini of Italy, 4-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, to reach the fourth round.


Anderson, who won 10 of the last 11 games, is the first South African to advance to the fourth round at Wimbledon since Wayne Ferreira in 2000. He has reached the fourth round in his last three Grand Slams.


In a second-round match carried over from Thursday because of rain, Santiago Giraldo of Colombia beat No. 30 Marcel Granollers of Spain, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.


Earlier, the French Open finalist Simona Halep and the former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki won their matches after rain delayed the start of play for about 30 minutes.


Halep, who lost the Roland Garros final to Maria Sharapova, advanced with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in a second-round match. Wozniacki moved into the fourth round after a 6-3, 6-0 win over Ana Konjuh of Croatia.


No. 22-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia beat Caroline Garcia of France, 7-5, 6-3, and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland defeated Victoria Duval of the United States, 6-4, 7-5.


Later Friday, the defending champion, Andy Murray, took a 15-match winning streak at the All England Club into the third round against 27th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.


Murray won six matches in a row at the place to earn a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, then seven in a row during Wimbledon last year on the way to the title, then another two this week.


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