| Friday, 27 June 2008 Written by Barry Newcombe Svetlana Kuznetsova celebrated her 23rd birthday with a composed performance to move into the last 16 at the expense of a rather combustible Czech opponent, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. The fourth seed, Russia's leading contender for the Wimbledon title after the departure of Maria Sharapova, was never under severe pressure as she defeated the 22-year-old 6-2 6-4 - but at least Zahlavova made it an interesting birthday afternoon. The match was ambling along quite uneventfully in the first set - with neither player performing particularly well - until the sixth game when Zahlavova conceded a break point for a third time. After that, one of the line judges spoke to the umpire, who issued a warning against her for an audible obscenity. Whatever the original comment was, the Czech was incensed by what she felt was an unfair decision. She reasoned and remonstrated with umpire Adel Aref and cried out: "My God, this is unbelievable." A clearly rattled Zahlavova went on to concede the break and reacted by swiping her racket a few times towards the ground to release her anger before finding something new to annoy her - the drizzle which was starting to fall a little harder on to Court 2. After dropping 0-30 behind, she urged the umpire to check the surface of the court, which he did at various points while Kuznetsova decided to wait in her chair. Zahlavova eventually joined her on the sidelines but showed her frustration by hurling her racket against her own chair, earning her a whistling reception from the Court 2 crowd. The umpire decided that play should continue but, while continuing to rail against every perceived slight against her, Zahlavova's play improved dramatically with some clever backhand shots pushing Kuznetsova to the limit. Unfortunately for her, this was also the moment when the former US Open champion moved her game up several gears and Kuznetsova completed the set 6-2 in 35 minutes.
In the second set the Czech dropped serve on a double fault to trail 2-0 before more persistent rainfall halted play. After a break of almost two hours Kuznetsova extended her lead to 3-0 when play resumed but she did not have an unblemished run to victory.
This was because Zahlavova - while still making the occasional verbal outburst directed at herself - continued her improvement. Often she rescued points which looked dead and she took Kuznetsova's serve for the first time and then won a five deuce game to level at 3-3.
Two games later, Kuznetsova served for the match but scored only one point. This gave Zahlavova the chance to improve her position at 4-5 but she went match point down in the next game - and then double-faulted for a second time and was out.
Kuznetsova will doubtless appreciate an early finish and the chance to celebrate her birthday with the knowledge that she does not have to report for duty again until Monday, when she will attempt to reach her fourth Wimbledon quarter-final.
| Court 2 - Ladies' Singles - 3rd Round | |
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Match Statistics
