Wimbledon 2019, singles round-up: Coco Gauff's fairytale run comes to an end; Rafael Nadal reaches 39th career Slam quarterfinal

Karolina Muchova downs third-seed Karolina Pliskova to reach quarters Karolina Muchova narrowly avoided a deciding-set tiebreaker, beating third-seeded Karolina Pliskova 4-6, 7-5, 13-11 to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals. [caption id=“attachment_6957761” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Karolina Muchova celebrates after beating Karolina Pliskova. AP[/caption] Muchova won the last three games of the match and converted her third match point with a return that clipped the net cord. Pliskova broke for an 11-10 lead but couldn’t serve out the match as she was broken back at love. If the score had reached 12-12, the pair would have played the first deciding-set tiebreaker since Wimbledon introduced new rules for this year’s tournament. In the past, there were no tiebreakers in deciding sets. The longest match in Wimbledon history was in 2010, when John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set. Last year, Kevin Anderson beat Isner 26-24 in the fifth set in the semifinals. Rafael Nadal reaches 39th career Grand Slam quarterfinal Rafael Nadal reached his 39th career Grand Slam quarterfinal by beating Joao Sousa 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 on Centre Court at Wimbledon. [caption id=“attachment_6957751” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Rafael Nadal eased past Joao Sousa in fourth round of Wimbledon. AP[/caption] Nadal dominated from the start, breaking Sousa in his first two service games to take a 4-0 lead in the first set. The Spaniard never faced a break point and converted six of the eight he created on Sousa’s serve. He earned a standing ovation from parts of the crowd after setting up one of those break points, ending a 20-shot rally with a running backhand cross-court winner to make it 30-40 at 1-1 in the third set. He hit another backhand winner to secure the break and broke again for a 5-2 lead. It was the two-time Wimbledon champion’s 52nd match win at the All England Club, surpassing Bjorn Borg for eighth place on the all-time list. Serena Williams beats Carla Suarez Navarro to proceed further Serena Williams eased into the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the 14th time by beating Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2 on No. 1 Court. Williams won six straight games from 3-2 in the first set to take control of the match. She raised both arms in celebration after her fifth break of the match gave her a 5-2 lead in the second set and served out the victory when Suarez Navarro sent a backhand wide. Williams is looking for her eighth Wimbledon title after losing last year’s final to Angelique Kerber. She has never lost a set in seven career meetings against Suarez Navarro. Williams will next face fellow American Alison Riske, who upset top-ranked Ash Barty earlier in the day. Also, Barbora Strycova came from a set and break down to beat Elise Mertens 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Mertens led 5-2 in the second set but lost nine straight games to go 4-0 down in the second. Romanian seventh seed Simon Halep proves too good for prodigious American Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff Coco Gauff’s dream Wimbledon run came to an abrupt end on Monday when the consistency of seventh seed and former world number one Simona Halep proved a step too far for the 15-year-old American, who went down 6-3 6-3.

After stunning Venus Williams and then saving two match points en route to beating Polona Hercog last week, Gauff was suddenly the hottest ticket in town but she was always going to find it tough against Halep, last year’s French Open champion and the first top-10 opponent she had ever faced. [caption id=“attachment_6957701” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Coco Gauff reacts during her match against Simona Halep. AFP[/caption]

Bidding to become the youngest Wimbledon quarter-finalist since fellow-15-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 1991, Gauff was by no means overawed, keeping the crowd entertained with some crashing backhands and athletic recoveries, but there were also far too many simple errors that the American was never going to get away with at this stage of the tournament.

Halep, who had given an indication of her form when dismissing the dangerous Victoria Azarenka in the last round, had to work hard before eventually taking a relatively even first set. Gauff then started spraying he groundstrokes long and was virtually blown away as Halep found her own range. Gauff did save two match points when serving at 5-2 down but this time it was only a temporary reprieve as Halep finished things off in the next game. Ash Barty’s winning streak is over, and so are her chances of winning a second straight Glam Slam title. The top-ranked Australian had won 15 matches in a row, including the French Open title, but she lost to Alison Riske 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 at Wimbledon on Monday, giving the unseeded American a spot in the quarterfinals of a major tournament for the first time. “I haven’t been starting out fantastic in all my matches, but I knew I had the confidence that if I could manage my service games I was going to get looks on her serve,” said Riske, whose best previous showing was reaching the third round at Wimbledon and the fourth round at the 2013 U.S. Open. “I had to play aggressive. I had to take it to Ash.” [caption id=“attachment_6956841” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Alison Riske and Ashleigh Barty shake hands after the match. AFP[/caption] Barty was playing her first tournament as the No. 1-ranked player, and she started off by winning points with her serve against Riske. In the opening service game, the top-seeded Barty won all four points with aces. She won two more points in her next game with aces, as well. She finished the match with 12 of them. But Riske took her chances when she got them, breaking Barty four times on four attempts, including to take a 5-3 lead in the deciding set before serving it out. Riske will next face either Serena Williams or Carla Suarez Navarro on Tuesday in the quarterfinals. Svitolina into first Wimbledon quarter-final Also, No. 8 Elina Svitolina beat No. 24 Petra Martic 6-4, 6-2, and Zhang Shuai defeated Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. Svitolina won six straight games from 4-4 in the first set. Martic called for medical treatment on her left leg after the first game of the second set and her movement appeared to be hampered the rest of the way. She asked for treatment again at 4-1.