Wimbledon 2018: Karolina Pliskova loses in straight sets to Kiki Bertens
- From the section Tennis
| Wimbledon 2018 on the BBC |
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| Venue: All England Club, Wimbledon Dates: 2-15 July |
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Czech seventh seed Karolina Pliskova became the last of the women's top 10 seeds to go out of Wimbledon, beaten in straight sets by Kiki Bertens.
The 26-year-old lost her fourth-round match 6-3 7-6 (7-1) after a largely uninspiring display.
Bertens, 26, who is seeded 20th and beat Venus Williams in the last round, was ruthless with break-point chances.
Angelique Kerber, Jelena Ostapenko and Dominika Cibulkova also progressed to Tuesday's quarter-finals.
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Pliskova gave glimpses of her ability in the second set but Bertens held her nerve to secure a quarter-final spot.
The Dutch player had more energy around the court and showed a better temperament than her more languid opponent in the key moments.
Former world number one Pliskova's serve also lacked conviction, which enabled Bertens to capitalise in the first set with two breaks while confidently holding her own.
Bertens, who considered quitting tennis in 2017 because she was "miserable" despite climbing the rankings, found life a little tougher in the second set.
An early break gave the Dutch player the upper hand, although at 4-2 down the Czech lifted her game to cancel out the break.
The pair held serve for the remainder of the second set, as Pliskova finally found some rhythm to force a tie-break.
However, Bertens went 3-0 up in the tie-break and then produced an ace before Pliskova overhit a return.
With momentum behind her, Bertens, ranked 20th in the world, clinically served out to secure a meeting with Julia Gorges of Germany in the last eight.
Gorges, seeded 13th, was a routine 6-3 6-2 winner over Croatia's Donna Vekic.
Kerber highest-ranked seed left
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Kerber (11) is the highest seed left in the women's singles following her 6-3 7-6 (7-5) win over Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.
Bencic missed four set points which allowed 30-year-old German Kerber to force a tie-break and close out the victory.
Kerber claimed she will not be affected by the pressure of being the top-ranked seed still in the tournament.
"I am trying not to look left or right, just to focus on my tennis and improving it," she said.
"I know I still have a lot of tough matches and I'm just concentrating on myself."
The two-time Grand Slam champion will face Daria Kasatkina on Tuesday after the Russian 14th seed beat Belgium's Alison van Uytvanck 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-2.
Ostapenko, Cibulkova and Giorgi through
Former French Open champion Ostapenko beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6 (7-4) 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals.
The 12th seed was down 5-2 in the first set but won four games in a row before coming out on top in a crucial tie-break.
She then cruised to a comfortable 6-0 win in the second set.
The Latvian will play world number 33 Cibulkova of Slovakia after she beat Hsieh Su-wei 6-4 6-1.
There was controversy in the final game of the first set when Cibulkova successfully challenged after one of her shots was called out.
The umpire initially awarded the point to Cibulkova - which would have brought up three set points for the Slovak.
But Hsieh - whose reply to Cibulkova's shot had landed in - argued with the umpire and asked for the referee to be called. Following a seven-minute delay, they were eventually told to replay the point. Hsieh won it but it proved only a temporary reprieve as Cibulkova went on to break Hsieh's serve and clinch the set.
Elsewhere, Italian Camila Giorgi beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-3 6-4 and will face seven-time champion Serena Williams next after the American saw off Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina 6-2 6-2.
