‘Seed is just a number’ – quartet bid for Wimbledon semis – BBC Sport

Going into Wimbledon there was a feeling the women’s singles could be another wide-open tournament.

On Saturday, one of Jasmine Paolini, Emma Navarro, Lulu Sun or Donna Vekic will appear in their first SW19 final.

The quartet make up the same half of the women’s last eight and, on Tuesday, two of them will advance to their first semi-final at the All England Club.

Only Paolini, who was overpowered and overawed by top seed Iga Swiatek in the French Open final last month, has gone beyond the last eight of a Grand Slam.

The Italian seventh seed meets American 19th seed Navarro in the second match on Centre Court (about 17:30 BST).

Qualifier Sun from New Zealand, fresh from beating Britain’s Emma Raducanu, faces Croatia’s Vekic when they open proceedings on Court One at 13:00.

Tuesday’s other singles matches are the two men’s quarter-finals featuring top seed Jannik Sinner and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Italy’s Sinner, 22, plays Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev on Centre Court at 13:30.

Spanish third seed Alcaraz, 21, takes on American 12th seed Tommy Paul on Court One at about 15:30.

Over the past eight days, defending champion Marketa Vondrousova and six other top-10 seeds have been knocked out in shock defeats.

Second seed Coco Gauff was the latest high-profile elimination, losing in straight sets to Navarro on Sunday.

“The seed is just a number,” Gauff said after the defeat.

“It means nothing. Especially on my side of the draw, even though the players may not be as known, but they’re so talented.”

It has been a breakthrough season for Navarro, who won her first WTA Tour title in January and reached the fourth round of a major for the first time at last month’s French Open.

Her quarter-final opponent Paolini has also enjoyed a stellar year, but the 28-year-old had never won a match at Wimbledon until last week.

At least one unseeded player is guaranteed to go as far as the semi-finals, with world number 37 Vekic taking on Sun, who is ranked 123rd.

“I think that’s something that people, fans of the game, are a little bit disrespectful of when it comes to other players on tour,” Gauff added.

“Maybe their ranking isn’t there, but the level is there. They’re here for a reason. They deserve their spot. There’s no easy draw. There’s no cakewalk or anything. This is a competitive sport and we all want to win.”