Gauff and Paolini march into round four at Wimbledon

Second seed Coco Gauff ended the dream run of British qualifier Sonay Kartal as the American marched into the fourth round of Wimbledon with a 6-4 6-0 victory on Friday.

Gauff was pushed hard by a player who began the week ranked 298th in the world, but once she banked the opening set the outcome of the match was never in doubt.

“I thought I played really well and she was playing a high level especially in the first set,” US Open champion Gauff said on Court One under the closed roof.

“She wasn’t giving me much to work with and not letting me settle. I felt like I was going for the right shots but was just missing, but eventually I found it.”

Gauff reached the fourth round as a qualifier in 2019 when she was 15 and also got to that stage in 2021 but has never progressed to the quarter-finals.

Standing in the way now is 19th seed American Emma Navarro who beat Diana Shnaider on Friday.

Jasmine Paolini continued to carry the flag for Italian tennis on the women’s side as the seventh seed downed former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu 7-6(4) 6-1 at Wimbledon on Friday to make the fourth round for the first time.

The diminutive French Open runner-up, who also reached the last 16 at the Australian Open this season, became the first woman from her nation to make the second week at each of the first three majors in a single year.

While Italian men’s number one Jannik Sinner has hogged much of the limelight with his maiden Grand Slam triumph at Melbourne this year, Paolini has won hearts with a mixture of fierce competitiveness and joviality on the court.

Having already beaten 2019 US Open winner Andreescu in the Roland Garros third round last month, where the Canadian returned from nine-month injury layoff, Paolini delighted Court One fans and said she was enjoying being a crowd favourite.

“It was really nice to play out here in front of you guys, You are so many. It’s a dream to play in this kind of stadium. I think I played a good match. I hope you enjoyed,” Paolini said.

Paolini, who made the Eastbourne semi-finals to underline her grasscourt credentials ahead of Wimbledon, next plays 12th seed Madison Keys or 18th seed Marta Kostyuk for a spot in the quarter-final.

When Emma Raducanu nonchalantly flicked a lob that appeared to be drifting long before it dropped inches inside the baseline to earn her a break and a hollering ovation from the Wimbledon crowd, Maria Sakkari must have known this was not going to be her day.

So it proved to be as Britain’s only female singles Grand Slam champion in the last four decades was roared on to a 6-2 6-3 third round victory over the Greek ninth seed under a closed Centre Court roof.

Raducanu, who needed a wildcard invite from organisers to even compete at the grasscourt major as her ranking has plummeted to 135th after an injury plagued 2023, had beaten Sakkari the only previous time they had met – at the 2021 U.S. Open semi-finals.

Demonstrating a steely resolve and showing flashes of the brilliance that unexpectedly carried her to the 2021 Flushing Meadows title, Raducanu once again made a mockery of her ranking difference with a show-stopping performance and sealed victory after Sakkari whipped a forehand wide.

Raducanu will next play New Zealand qualifier Lulu Sun for a place in the quarter-finals.

Paula Badosa put her hands to her head and shed tears following a stunning win over Russian 14th seed Daria Kasatkina, reflecting on a chronic back injury that threatened to end her career prematurely.

Ranked as high as number two in the world in 2022, the 26-year-old Spaniard has plummeted down the table in recent months due to a string of injuries, including the back issue that has proved especially hard to overcome.

Having made steady progress since returning to the tour in January after pulling out of last year’s Wimbledon, she earned a battling 7-6(6) 4-6 6-4 victory to dump out Eastbourne champion Kasatkina in the third round.

“It’s not my first time in a second week (of a Grand Slam), but it’s the most special one. I’m really proud of myself. I’ve been struggling a lot with injuries, and it’s been now a long time that I wasn’t in a second week,” Badosa told reporters.

“Last year here I had to retire … I was on the couch and watching the tournaments from home. This year when I started, I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Badosa was told by doctors earlier this year that it would be complicated to continue her career, but she persevered with the help of cortisone injections.

“At the bottom of my heart, I wasn’t accepting it. I was, like, ‘I’m going to continue no matter what’. That’s also what made me the player I am, that I always want more,” she said.

“I’m always going to fight, however difficult that moment is, you know.

“Of course, there are some moments that there’s pain, and you don’t really know what to do. You a feel a bit lost. But I didn’t care. I remember telling to my team that I was going to play with pain.”

Badosa made the third round of the French Open last month before reaching the quarter-finals at Bad Homburg to break back into the top 100.

“I’ve always been tough mentally and a fighter, so I was going to do it anyway. So for me, I’m very proud that I’ve been through all of this,” Badosa said.

“And now I’m again in the fourth round and playing at a good level, because sometimes when I came back (I was) struggling so much, my level wasn’t there.

“I felt so far away. Now, seeing myself back at it, it means a lot.”