KEY DATES FOR WIMBLEDON 2015

Qualifying begins: 22 June

The Draw: 26 June

Pre-event Press Conferences: 27 & 28 June

Order of Play: 28 June

Championships begin: 29 June

COME BACK FOR LIVE SCORES & LIVE BLOG FROM 22 JUNE

Wimbledon.com uses cookies. 
We use simple text files called cookies, saved on your computer, to help us deliver the best experience for you. Click continue to acknowledge that you are happy to receive cookies from Wimbledon.com.
CONTINUE > Find out more
News
Thursday 25 June 2015 21:14 PM BST
Konta's Eastbourne run ended by Bencic
Belinda Bencic ends Johanna Konta's dream run in Eastbourne, as the Nottingham men's semi-finals are also decided. READ MORE

Konta falls to teenage prodigy

For one set, it seemed as though British wild card Johanna Konta's dream run would continue. The world No.146 had been playing inspired tennis this week, claiming two top 20 scalps in the process in Ekaterina Makarova and Garbine Muguruza. Against 18-year-old Belinda Bencic, the youngest player in the draw, she calmly picked up where she left off, hitting her spots with her serve and groundstrokes and simply overpowering the youngster.

Bencic, who already has a US Open quarter-final and two WTA finals under her belt - most recently two weeks ago in 's-Hertogenbosch - is, however, a supreme tactician. Coached from childhood by Melanie Molitor, the mother of Swiss legend Martina Hingis, Bencic is something of a second coming of the original Swiss Miss.

With Hingis herself supporting her in the stands, Bencic adjusted with an immaculate second set, rushing Konta with her increased depth and aggression. A 13-minute opening game of the decider also went Bencic's way, and by the time she served a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory out, Konta was out of ideas.

"It was a very difficult match, I want to congratulate Johanna - she made me work very hard today," said a relieved Bencic afterwards, who has now won as many matches on grass as she had in the entire season beforehand.

The return of Radwanska?

Former Wimbledon finalist and perennial crowd favourite Agnieszka Radwanska, the Polish No.9 seed, has been enduring a rough year so far.

A coaching arrangement with Martina Navratilova, announced with much fanfare during the off season, lasted just four months before dissolving. Navratilova cited other commitments as her reason for resigning, but Radwanska's results had taken a downturn as well: the Pole is yet to reach a final in 2015 and has seen her ranking fall out of the top 10 amidst a number of unusual losses.

Yet she looked close to her best against the dangerous grass-courter Tsvetana Pironkova, of Bulgaria. The pair had played 12 times over the past decade, with Pironkova scoring just two wins - one of which was here in the first round of Eastbourne in 2012. But she never looked like repeating it today: gliding around the court as though motorised, Radwanska's anticipation and finesse were sharp and uncanny.

"Everything was working for me today," the delighted Pole said afterwards.

Radwanska's semi-final opponent will be American Sloane Stephens, who progressed via walkover after Russia's Daria Gavrilova withdrew with an abdominal injury - a result with a certain irony, as Gavrilova had only made the main draw as a lucky loser following No.1 seed Petra Kvitova's illness.

Wozniacki extends dominance over Petkovic

For the third consecutive match, No.2 seed Caroline Wozniacki weathered a trying start - but by the end, accelerated over the finishing line.

Back in 2011, one of the highlights of No.10 seed Andrea Petkovic's first top-10 season was her win over Wozniacki, then world No.1, at the Miami Open. Since then, though, Wozniacki has dominated the head-to-head: her 7-5, 6-1 victory today brought her streak to eight straight sets over the charismatic German.

Petkovic is one of the most popular WTA players on social media thanks to her offbeat wit and articulate opinions, particularly on feminism and women's sport. But her tennis wasn't quite so sharp on Thursday, holding serve just twice in the match. Wozniacki also took some time to settle in - the opening six games were all breaks of serve. Once she had found her groove, though, her burgeoning confidence was apparent in the way she expanded her repertoire towards the close of the match.

Epics stretch into the evening at Nottingham

The crowds at the Aegon Open Nottingham certainly got their money's worth on Thursday, with American No.12 seed Sam Querrey, unseeded Uzbek Denis Istomin and Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov taking over two hours each to win their quarter-finals.

Purchase Towels

They were won in contrasting styles. Querrey appeared second-best to No.2 seed Gilles Simon - an opponent he had beaten just once in five encounters - for most of the first two sets, outsteadied in the extended rallies and unable to take advantage of the Frenchman's poor first serve percentage. Yet it was Simon who was ultimately unable to hammer the final nail in the match, squandering break points throughout the second set and finding himself at the mercy of Querrey's huge serve in the ensuing tie-break.

Querrey, who appeared on the US reality show Millionaire Matchmaker earlier this year in a bid to find love, was more in the mood for love games.

Twice, he boomed down three aces in a game; his total, including two to save match points, was 26. Simon, who had put together a Queen's semi-final run last week and had to save four match points of his own against Marcel Granollers in the second round here, spent much of the third set berating himself and playing tired tennis; a last-ditch comeback attempt was too little, too late as Querrey went through 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-4.

Mayer fails to find the anti-Istomin

Uzbek No.1 Denis Istomin is one of only three men in the ATP top 100 with a female coach - his mother, Claudia. (The others are Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin, the world No.58, coached by his wife Anastasia; and, of course, Andy Murray, who has enjoyed a successful partnership with former world No.1 Amélie Mauresmo for the past year.)

The arrangement worked well for him on Thursday. An accomplished grass-court player - he made the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2012 and is a two-time Eastbourne semi-finalist - his victory over No.4 seed Leonardo Mayer, of Argentina, was a probing baseline battle broken up by deft forays to the net. Mayer showed tremendous grit to hang on despite Istomin's tendency to raise his game on the biggest moments: the Uzbek saved seven break points, the majority with superb play, and was never broken.

"It was a crazy match today - it's tough to say something," said Istomin. "I needed to play 100% on every point."

The 28-year-old world No.92 has reached two finals in his career to date - New Haven in 2010 and San Jose in 2012 - but this 6-3, 6-7(8), 7-6(6) victory keeps him in the hunt for his first title.

Dolgopolov comes through drama

You try to stay calm - it doesn't always happen

- Alexandr Dolgopolov

Alexandr Dolgopolov, the conqueror of Rafael Nadal last week at Queen's, is already known as one of the Tour's most unorthodox and unpredictable characters. This was on full display today in a rollercoaster ride of a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4) win over Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun.

Neither the audience nor Lu knew what would come from Dolgopolov's racket: paceless shots loaded with bizarre spins; hard, flat forehand bullets; limp errors on routine shots. A spate of double faults was followed by a spate of aces.

At times - as when he reeled off five straight games to take the opening set - Dolgopolov made his brand of tennis look like easy genius. At others - the seven deuce games in the deciding set - it was a Sisyphean struggle. Lu, for his part, fought gamely, charging the net - with mixed results - to obviate the confusion of rallying with Dolgopolov from the baseline.

As the match progressed, Dolgopolov became increasingly cranky, bothered by the crowd, the court surface - which in fairness, having hosted two tournaments in three weeks, is now more like clay than grass in places - and the umpire, whom he termed "worse than the worst" in one particularly cantankerous exchange.

"It wasn't the happiest match for me," he admitted later. "You try to stay calm - it doesn't always happen."

No stress for Baghdatis

Enjoying a rather more straightforward passage was former world No.8 Marcos Baghdatis, who lost just 10 points on serve against the unseeded Simone Bolelli, of Italy.

Bolelli, the reigning Australian Open doubles champion alongside Fabio Fognini, showed wonderful touch at net at times - but Baghdatis was in irrepressible form, conjuring winners from all areas of the court, and moved into the semi-final with a 6-4, 6-4 win.

Eastbourne semi-final line-up

Sloane Stephens (USA) vs. (9) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
Belinda Bencic (SUI) vs. (2) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)

Nottingham semi-final line-up

Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) vs. Denis Istomin (UZB)
Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) vs. (12) Sam Querrey (USA)