Venus Williams and Madison Keys are out of Wimbledon, leaving just two of the top 10 seeds and one American in the women’s singles draw as third-round play continues.
That one American is Serena Williams, the seven-time Wimbledon champion seeded 25th coming off maternity leave. She beat Frenchwoman Kiki Mladenovic 7-5, 7-6 (2) in the third round on Friday and would not play a seed before the semifinals.
That’s because No. 10 Keys was upset by Russian qualifier and Evgeniya Rodina 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in the same section of the draw. Rodina was 0-15 against top-20 ranked opponents before Friday’s win. Serena Williams and Rodina, both moms, meet in Monday’s round of 16.
“Serena is my idol,” Rodina said. “So it will be great to play against her.”
Though known for her big serve and forehand, Keys has had the least success at Wimbledon of the four Grand Slams. Her best result was a 2015 quarterfinal appearance. She lost in the second round last year.
Wimbledon has been Venus Williams’ best major. The 38-year-old owns five singles titles, but she was dumped by 20th-seeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 6-2, 6-7 (5), 8-6 in the third round on Friday.
The ninth-seeded Williams’ recent resurgence peaked last year, when she made the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals, the U.S. Open semifinals and the fourth round of the French Open.
This year, she has two match wins total from three Grand Slams but also made the semifinals at Indian Wells at quarterfinals in Miami, two of the biggest events outside of the majors. She falls out of the top 10 after Wimbledon.
Bertens gets No. 7 Karolina Pliskova, one of the two top-10 seeds left, in the fourth round. Top seed Simona Halep is alive in the other half of the draw.
In the men’s draw, No. 1 Roger Federer swept German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 7-5, 6-2, extending his streak to 29 straight sets won since the start of the 2017 tournament. Federer gets No. 22 Adrian Mannarino of France in the fourth round.
Most of the top men are still alive, including No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro, No. 12 Novak Djokovic and No. 9 John Isner, who reached the fourth round for the first time in 10 Wimbledon starts.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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