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It was another brutal day for top players at the Western and Southern Open.
Elina Svitolina, Simona Halep, Sloane Stephens, Aryna Sabalenka, and the biggest name so far, Roger Federer were all knocked out in third round action. Also losing in doubles was local star Caty McNally and her partner Alison Riske.
McNally and Riske were coming off of a three set marathon on Wednesday. Thursday's challengers, Anna-lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs, gave the duo all they can handle. Groenefeld and Schuurs jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before McNally and Riske would win the next five. After that, the German-Dutch teamwould go on a bit of a run, winning the first set and taking an early lead in the second. The Americans would battle back and take the second set. It all came down to a 10-point third set tie breaker. Groenefeld and Schuurs would take the tiebreaker and the match with a final score of 7-5, 4-6, 10-7.
Meanwhile on Center Court the upset of the tournament was brewing. Andrey Rublev, a qualifier who barely made the tournament after forgetting to sign up for it, jumped out to an early lead on the 2 seed Roger Federer. Rublev remained on the attack at swept Federer in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
Early on over on Court 10, we saw a battle of future tour stars, as Maria Sakkari of Greece, battled Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. The two stats that stick out of this match were the break points and double faults. Sakkari finished 3-for-24 on break points, to Sabalenka's 1-for-5. of the four converted break points 3 came on double faults. The other big stat was Sabalenka's 17 double faults, which helped Sakkari ultimately win this match in 3 sets 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4.
In the nightcap fans were treated to an instant classic as Wimbledon Champion Simona Halep faced off with American Madison Keys. From the start it looked like Keys was going to roll straight through taking the first set 6-1 in only twenty minutes. Halep would not give in though coming back to take the second set. Ultimately though fatigue became a factor for the Romanian, as she began to fade late in the third set. Up 5-4 she could not put away Keys on serve and lost the match. Final score Keys winning 6-1, 3-6, 7-5
Other notable scores:
Novak Djokovic def. Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-3, 6-4
Naomi Osaka def. Su-Wei Hsieh 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-2
Venus Williams def. Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
Ashleigh Barty def. Anett Kontaveit 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
Richard Gasquet def Diego Schwarztman 7-6(6), 6-3
David Goffin def. Adrian Mannarino 7-6(6), 6-2
Matches to watch on Friday
Center Court
(1) Ashleigh Barty vs Maria Sakkari 11am
Roberto Bautista Agut vs Richard Gasquet 2nd match
Sofia Kennin vs (2) Naomi Osaka 3rd Match
Venus Williams vs Madison Keys 7pm
Novak Djokovic vs Lucas Pouille 2nd match of night session
Grandstand
Karolina Pliskova vs Svetlana Kuznetsova 2nd match not before 1pm
Yoshihito Nishioka vs David Goffin 3rd match
Andrey Rublev vs Danill Medvedev 7pm
For more information and all score, plus full order of play visit wsopen.com