The British weather disrupted play on the outside courts on Friday, but the lower half of the women’s draw was completed, setting the Last 16 matches to come at The Wimbledon Championships, with wins for seeds Jasmine Paolini, Madison Keys and Emma Navarro, amongst others.
Play under the roofs of Centre and No 1 Courts saw Emma Raducanu score her second Top 10 win in as many weeks by cruising past No 9 seed Maria Sakkari, 6-2 6-3, while Coco Gauff, the World No 2, eased through the gears against British qualifier Sonay Kartal, 6-4 6-0.
Despite the rain, all 8 ladies’ matches were wrapped up, and the recent Roland-Garros runner-up and No 7 seed Jasmine Paolini was the first to reach the Last 16 when she notched another good result, this time against former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu from Canada, 7-6(4) 6-1.
Paolini will next face No 12 seed Madison Keys, after the American saw off Marta Kostyuk, the 18th seed from Ukraine, as she bids to reach a second consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final.
Her win added to a strong early morning for American women, as Emma Navarro advanced to her first 4th round at Wimbledon with a 2-6 6-3 6-4 win over Bad Homburg champion Diana Shnaider.
Gauff made it a perfect 3-0 for US women in the bottom half of the draw, and will meet Navarro next.
The player to show the most emotion after winning was probably Spain’s Paula Badosa, who fought her way through a 3-set nerve-jangler against Daria Kasatkina, the No 14 seed from Russia and the recent Eastbourne champion.
