| Saturday, 28 June 2008 Written by Ian Baker Alla Kudryavtseva, slayer of Maria Sharapova, proved she was no one-hit wonder by knocking out Chinese woman Peng Shuai to make it into the second week of the Championships. The world No 154, who on Thursday became the lowest ranked player to beat the 2004 Wimbledon champion in a Tour-level event, overcame a serious slump in form in the second set to triumph 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. There were three consecutive breaks of serve at the start of the match, before Kudryavtseva finally held hers to take a 3-1 lead thanks to some powerful serving. Peng, the world No 54, came back into the set when she broke the Kudryavtseva serve to level the match at 3-3. But the Russian, combining powerful hitting with some strategic drop shots, secured two more breaks on the way to clinching the set. The second set was a different story with Kudryavtseva completely losing her composure. Peng, backed by a large Chinese contingent on court 14, took advantage and made her Russian opponent look very average. Peng, 22, took the set 6-1 and when she comfortably held serve to win the first game of the deciding set, it looked like the Russian’s big adventure was over. But Kudryavtseva, making her seventh consecutive appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam despite her lowly ranking, had other ideas. She rediscovered her poise, held her serve and the set was soon 4-4. With the momentum behind her, Kudryavtseva went on to break the Peng serve again and then closed out the match to go through to the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time.
| Court 14 - Ladies' Singles - 3rd Round | |
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