Halep bows out, Djokovic, Nadal move on
Published : 08 Jul 2018, 13:21
World No.1 Simona Halep was stunned by Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 4-6, 5-7 in the third round of women's singles, becoming the ninth of the top 10 seeded players to crash out of the tournament in the incredible first week.
Squandering 23 break points, Halep was extremely disappointed with her performance as she labelled harsh critisism on herself to be "negative" and "unprofessional" at the press conference.
The 26-year-old Hsieh Su-Wei, on the other hand, deserved all the joys from her first victory against a world No.1 as she fought back from a 2-5 deficit in the decider. She will take on Cibulkova in the fourth round.
With Halep out, none from the top 5 seeds would make it to the round of 16, the first time ever in the Wimbledon history.
In the men's singles, No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal eased into the fourth round as he swept Alex De Minaur 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, continuing his clean record so far. With this victory, he has secured his place as World No.1 after the tournament. His next round rival will be Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic.
Three-time champion Novak Djokovic also moved on to the next round with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over British player Kyle Edmund. He will fight Russia's Karen Khachanov for a place in the quarterfinals.
In another clash, World No. 3 Alexander Zverev was upset by Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-0. The 138-ranked Gulbis will challenge Kei Nishikori, who won three straight sets to past Australian star Nick Kyrgios.
Juan Del Porto and Milos Raonic both rolled overtheir opponents to move on to the fourth round.