LONDON: Coco Gauff isn’t the only teenager making a splash at Wimbledon this time. Emma Raducanu is suddenly stealing some of the spotlight.

The 18-year-old Raducanu and the 17-year-old Gauff both advanced to the fourth round of the grass-court Grand Slam within minutes of each other on Saturday.

For Gauff, it’s the second time she’s reached the second week at Wimbledon after her breakthrough performance in 2019, and she has already become a Centre Court regular. For Raducanu, who is playing in her first Grand Slam tournament, it’s an unexpected run that has given the British crowd an instant new favorite.

Raducanu became the youngest British woman in the Open era to reach the fourth round at the All England Club by beating veteran Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 7-5.

“Who’d have thought?” Raducanu asked. “When I was packing to come into the bubble, my parents were like, Aren’t you packing too many match kits? I think I’m going to have to do some laundry tonight.”

Raducanu was given a wild-card entry into the tournament but looked right at home playing on No. 1 Court, winning eight straight games to take a 3-0 lead in the second set. But she struggled to put away Cirstea, failing to convert three straight break points in the next game. She was then broken and missed another five break points at 4-3 in a marathon game that lasted nearly 15 minutes.

And she needed three match points in the final game before Cirstea netted a forehand.

Gauff had an easier time completing a 6-3, 6-3 win over Kaja Juvan on Centre Court. Gauff finished with 21 winners and broke her opponent five times.

She will next play former Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber, who beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 2-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Kerber trailed 5-1 in the first set when a rain delay interrupted play for about 90 minutes and then dominated her opponent when play resumed. The German is the only former women’s champion left in the draw. Sasnovich advanced from the first round when Serena Williams had to retire with an injury in the first set.

French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova beat Anastasija Sevastova 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 7-5.

In men’s play, seventh seed Matteo Berrettini advanced with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Aljaz Bedene.

Nick Kyrgios had to retire with an injury after the second set of his third-round match against No. 16 Felix Auger-Aliassime. Kyrgios appeared to struggle with an abdominal injury and told a trainer he couldn’t serve properly and was worried about tearing a muscle.

“It’s getting worse and worse,” Kyrgios said. “I’m try­ing but I can’t even ... I can’t serve anymore. I can’t do it.”

Kyrgios won the first set 6-2 but lost the second 6-1 on No. 1 Court. The Australian is also playing mixed doubles with Venus Williams.

The men’s singles started on a more light-hearted note when Kyrgios stepped onto the court only to realise he left his grass-court shoes in the locker room.

His mishap forced the two players to stand around for a couple of minutes before they could start their warm-up.

“The one day I thought I was being a professional,” Kyrgios joked.

A Wimbledon employee reunited him with the right shoes.

Results on Saturday (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Third round: 16-Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada) bt Nick Kyrgios, Australia, 2-6, 6-1, 0-0 — Kyrgios retired; 7-Matteo Berrettini (Italy) bt Aljaz Bedene (Slovenia) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; 14-Hubert Hurkacz (Poland) bt Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; 23-Lorenzo Sonego (Italy) bt James Duckworth (Australia) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Ilya Ivashka (Belarus) bt Jordan Thompson (Australia) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Women’s singles:

Third round: 30-Paula Badosa (Spain) bt Magda Linette (Poland) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Emma Raducanu (Great Britain) bt Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 6-3, 7-5; Ajla Tomljanovic (Australia) bt Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; 20-Cori Gauff (US) bt Kaja Juvan (Slovenia) 6-3, 6-3; 25-Angelique Kerber (Germany) bt Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Belarus) 2-6, 6-0, 6-1; 19-Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic) bt 16-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 7-5, 6-3.

Friday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles:

Third round: Sebastian Korda (US) bt 22-Daniel Evans (Great Britain) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; 10-Denis Shapovalov (Canada) bt Andy Murray (Great Britain) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

Women’s singles:

Third round: 23-Madison Keys (US) bt 13-Elise Mertens (Belgium) 7-5, 6-3.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2021