[Source: Reuters]

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.

Much-travelled Lulu Sun has taken a circuitous route to arrive in the fourth-round of Wimbledon and become the first New Zealand woman to go that far since 1959.

She will be the huge underdog against the former U.S. Open champion and will have to contend with a partisan Centre Court crowd, but the 23-year-old appears unfazed.

On the other hand, 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,” U.S. 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.