London, Serena Williams ended Carla Suarez Navarros Wimbledon hopes with a straight set win on Monday to seal her place in the quarterfinals. The US star took 64 minutes to hand the Spaniard a 6-2, 6-2 defeat, ending Navarros run to the round of 16.
“That’s a victory in itself, to know that I’m feeling better no matter what. I’m on the right path. I finally found the solution. I can be strong for the rest of the year,” Williams said after her win, referring to her overcoming a previous injury, according to Efe news.
The former WTA top-ranked player will make her 14th Wimbledon quarterfinal appearance in a bid to secure her 24th Grand Slam title which would put her equal with the record holder Australian Margaret Court.
Williams, 37, fired 21 winners and won five break points out of 11, saving two out of the three the Spaniard created.
Next up in the last-eight round, she will take on fellow American Alison Riske, who stunned current world number one Ashleigh Barty with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win.
Riske reached her first ever Grand Slam quarters in her career as a pro, ending her opponent’s 15-match winning streak.
Despite conceding 12 aces, the 29-year-old made no double faults and committed just 15 unforced errors compared to Barty’s 25. She also fired 30 winners.
The 23-year-old Australian Barty, who also won the Birmingham grass-court title, saw her hopes evaporate. The French Open champion was trying to be the first player to win the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double since Martina Navratilova in 1984.
Elsewhere, former world no. 1 Simona Halep ended the surprising run of 15-year-old American qualifier Coco Gauff, earning a 6-3, 6-3 win in 75 minutes.
Gauff, who won the Roland Garros junior title less than a month ago, became the youngest player ever to reach the Wimbledon second round. Following her outstanding run, Gauff will climb to the 139th spot in world rankings. She started the Wimbledon at 313th place.
Seventh-seed Halep, who reached the last-eight for the third time in her career, will play 50th ranked Shuai Zhang of China who eliminated Dayana Yastrenska with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 win.
Another quarterfinal clash will pit Ukrainian Elina Svitolina against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.
Svitolina secured her first ever Wimbledon quarterfinals appearance after beating Croatian Petra Martic 6-4, 6-2, while Muchova ousted her compatriot Karolina Pliskova 4-6, 7-5, 13-11 after more than three hours of play.
Pliskova’s defeat enabled Barty to hold on to the top spot in WTA rankings.
Another unseeded Czech player, Barbora Strycova, also made the last eight at the expense of Elise Mertens of Belgium with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 win. Strycova is set to square off with Briton Johanna Konta, who beat Petra Kvitova 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
