No. 23 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark moved into the fourth round at Wimbledon with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 upset Saturday over former champion and No. 11 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Tauson saved all four break points she faced and converted only one of 10 break chances, but that was enough to extend her unlikely run in London to a second week.
Tauson, who survived two set points in the opening set, had lost in the first round in all three of her previous main draw appearances at the grass-court major. Rybakina, by comparison, came in with the best record (21-3) at the All England Club of any woman in the field.
“I never expected it,” Tauson told reporters. “I’ve never had very good results on grass. I came here with a little bit of confidence of making it a few rounds. But winning against Elena was definitely going to be a tough job — and it was.
“But I played some of my best tennis, and it was obviously a great feeling winning today.”
It was the first Top 20 win on grass for Tauson, who will face No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland on Sunday. Swiatek closed out the women’s action on Saturday with a swift 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danielle Collins.
Swiatek saved all three break points and committed only 10 unforced errors — 15 fewer than Collins. Swiatek broke Collins’ serve for the fourth time to finish the match in 77 minutes.
No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia rolled over Hailey Baptiste 6-1, 6-3 in 78 minutes to reach the Round of 16. Andreeva saved eight of nine break points and posted a decisive 28-13 edge in winners.
“I felt like I was playing great,” Andreeva said. “I knew that the match is going to be tough because I felt like she was playing super free and she was going for her shots. My goal for the match was just to stay focused and also be aggressive. So I’m super happy with my level today.”
At 18, Andreeva is the youngest player to reach at least the fourth round at each of the season’s first three grand slam tournaments since Nicole Vaidisova in 2006.
Up next for Andreeva is No. 10 seed Emma Navarro, who rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over 17th-seeded Czech Barbora Krejcikova, the defending champion.
Other winners on Saturday included No. 18 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova, both of Russia, along with Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic and Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
–Field Level Media
