It's Independence Day, but for me, it's been a lesson not in history, but in my dependence on electricity. No power yet, which is why yesterday's Wimbledon report from Guy McCrea didn't get posted last night, but we are promised power by Saturday at the latest, so there may be only one more day of delays.
With all the Americans out of the singles competition, Guy has given us an opportunity to get to know some of the players from other countries. Here's his report from Thursday's action:
(NOTE: Quicktime, a media player available via a Free Download, is required to hear the audio clips.)
Thursday and down to the last eight club in the Junior Wimbledon boys’ and girls’ singles tourneys. Play started on time with most of the focus on courts 14, 18 and 19. For those of you who haven’t visited Wimbledon before, all these courts can be viewed from the AELTC’s broadcast centre roof – a major help to a junior tennis reporter!
In the boys’ singles, Bernard Tomic was first up on court 18 against Henrique Cunha of Brazil. The top seed has struggled to produce his best tennis so far this week, and was again outplayed in the opener by his sixth seeded opponent. The left-handed Cunha frequently threatened on his return, and got rewarded when he broke Tomic in the ninth game, a set he went on to win 6-4. Like the weather, things looked even patchier for the Australian when he went a break down early in the second. But Tomic struck back immediately and later levelled the match 6-4. The decider could have gone either way as Cunha continued to delight the crowd with his forehand – but Tomic’s improved all-round game, especially his sliced backhand, enabled him to edge the final set by 6 games to 3.
He’ll now play Henri Kontinen in the semi-finals. The Finn was just too powerful for Dane Propoggia on nearby court 19 – two breaks of the Australian’s serve meant he easily took the first set. The second was slightly tighter, but Kontinen’s aggression on serve and at the net again proved too strong for Proppogia. The world number 20 is into the last four by a 6-2, 6-2 scoreline.
FOR KONTINEN AUDIO CLICK HERE
Over on court 3, Filip Krajinovic brought an end to Andrew Thomas’ fine run in the boys singles with a 7-6(2), 6-4 win. The effort the Australian had put in to beat Tsung-Hua Yang in the last sixteen seemed to be a factor as the Serb appeared much the fresher of the two boys. Krajinovic meets ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov in the other semi-final, after the Bulgarian upset third seed and good friend Cesar Ramirez on court 14. Both possess tremendous power games, but the Mexican appeared a little nervous here. Dimitrov didn’t have to face a break point in his 6-3, 7-5 win.
FOR DIMITROV AUDIO CLICK HERE
Let’s look now at the girls’ singles, where 14-year-old Laura Robson continued her remarkable run in the event by beating ninth seeded Serbian Bojana Jovanovski in straight sets on court 18. The result was even more impressive for the Brit because she came back from two breaks down in the opener, and a break down in the second set, to take a 7-5, 6-4 decision against an opponent two years older and much more experienced than her. Robson is still to drop a set so far this week, and she’ll now be up against Slovakia’s Romana Tabakova in the semi-finals. That’s after the Slovakian beat fifth seed Polona Hercog 6-4, 6-1. Court 3 was never more than half full for this one – partially explained by the other junior matches elsewhere, but probably more so because Serena Williams chose to practice for her ladies singles semi-final on another championship court nearby! All that didn’t bother Tabakova though, who produced a brilliant display to reach the final four.
FOR TABAKOVA AUDIO CLICK HERE
In the other half of the girls’ singles draw, Tamaryn Hendler was in splendid form as she shocked second seed Aranxta Rus in straight sets. The Dutch player had been many peoples’ tip for the title after only dropping eleven games in reaching the last eight. But Hendler provided the greater variety of shots in this largely baseline battle to triumph 7-6(4), 6-3. The Belgian plays Thailand’s Noppaween Lertcheewakarn next. The third seed had a real battle on her hands against Britain’s Naomi Broady on court 19 – especially after she dropped the opener on the tie-break. Lertcheewakarn spurned plenty of break point opportunities in that set and through the rest of the match, but in the end she made enough of them count to win the next two sets 6-3 and 6-4.
FOR LERTCHEEWAKARN AUDIO CLICK HERE
So the singles semi-final line-ups are now complete. Do please return again tomorrow for reports and reaction from those matches, plus coverage from the doubles events.
For complete draws, see Wimbledon.org.
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