132ND WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIPS

Bugs, 'lucky' foe send No. 2 packing

Ekaterina Makarova of Russia celebrates defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in their women's singles match on the third day at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Wednesday July 4, 2018.
Ekaterina Makarova of Russia celebrates defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in their women's singles match on the third day at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Wednesday July 4, 2018.

LONDON -- Caroline Wozniacki complained about the flying insects at Wimbledon, demanding that bug spray be brought to the court.

She wondered aloud whether play should be halted because of a brief drizzle.

Wednesday's Wimbledon results

LONDON -- Results Wednesday from Wimbledon at The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (seedings in parentheses):

Men's Singles

Second round

Roger Federer (1), Switzerland, def. Lukas Lacko, Slovakia, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.

Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany, def. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia, 6-7 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), 13-11.

Adrian Mannarino (22), France, def. Ryan Harrison, United States, 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Daniil Medvedev, Russia, def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spain, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Sam Querrey (11), United States, def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ukraine, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-3.

Gael Monfils, France, def. Paolo Lorenzi, Italy, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3).

Mackenzie Mcdonald, United States, def. Nicolas Jarry, Chile, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 3-6, 6-2, 11-9.

Dennis Novak, Austria, def. Lucas Pouille (17), France, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (8), 3-6, 6-2.

Milos Raonic (13), Canada, def. John Millman, Australia, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4).

Radu Albot, Moldova, def. Aljaz Bedene, Slovenia, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3.

Women's Singles

Second round

Karolina Pliskova (7), Czech Republic, def. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 6-3, 6-3.

Mihaela Buzarnescu (29), Romania, def. Katie Swan, Britain, 6-0, 6-3.

Kiki Bertens (20), Netherlands, def. Anna Blinkova, Russia, 6-4, 6-0.

Venus Williams (9), United States, def. Alexandra Dulgheru, Romania, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Julia Goerges (13), Germany, def. Vera Lapko, Belarus, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium, def. Andrea Petkovic, Germany, 6-4, 6-3.

Donna Vekic, Croatia, def. Rebecca Peterson, Sweden, 7-5, 6-4.

Kristina Mladenovic, France, def. Tatjana Maria, Germany, 6-2, 6-2.

Serena Williams (25), United States, def. Viktoriya Tomova, Bulgaria, 6-1, 6-4.

Evgeniya Rodina, Russia, def. Sorana Cirstea, Romania, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Madison Keys (10), United States, def. Luksika Kumkhum, Thailand, 6-4, 6-3.

Camila Giorgi, Italy, def. Madison Brengle, United States, 6-4, 6-4.

Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic, def. Agnieszka Radwanska (32), Poland, 7-5, 6-4.

Ekaterina Makarova, Russia, def. Caroline Wozniacki (2), Denmark, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.

Men's Doubles

First round

Ken Skupski, Britain and Neal Skupski, Britain, def. Ilia Bozoljac, Serbia and Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Matthew Ebden, Australia and Taylor Fritz, United States, def. Peter Gojowczyk, Germany and Benoit Paire, France, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

Nicolas Mahut, France and Pierre-Hugues Herbert (4), France, def. Marco Cecchinato, Italy and Roberto Carballes Baena, Spain, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Roman Jebavy, Czech Republic and Andres Molteni, Argentina, def. Maximilian Marterer, Germany and Matteo Berrettini, Italy, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Mirza Basic, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dusan Lajovic, Serbia, def. Fabrice Martin, France and Purav Raja, India, 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 4-6, 11-9.

Antonio Sancic, Croatia and Andrei Vasilevski, Belarus, def. Taro Daniel, Japan and Yoshihito Nishioka, Japan, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Robert Lindstedt, Sweden and Robin Haase, Netherlands, def. Rajeev Ram, United States and Ivan Dodig (10), Croatia, 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-3.

Franko Skugor, Croatia and Dominic Inglot (15), Britain, def. Mischa Zverev, Germany and Marton Fucsovics, Hungary, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.

Liam Broady, Britain and Scott Clayton, Britain, def. Frances Tiafoe, United States and Jackson Withrow, United States, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5.

Marcel Granollers, Spain and Pablo Cuevas (11), Uruguay, def. Andre Begemann, Germany and Yasutaka Uchiyama, Japan, 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7).

Jonathan Erlich, Israel and Marcin Matkowski, Poland, def. Jonathan Eysseric, France and Hugo Nys, France, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8).

Women's Doubles

First round

Anastassia Rodionova, Australia and Nadiia Kichenok, Ukraine, def. Samantha Stosur, Australia and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, 6-2, 6-4.

Sachia Vickery, United States and Sofia Kenin, United States, def. Nicola Geuer, Germany and Viktorija Golubic, Switzerland, 6-4, 7-6 (1).

Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium and Monica Niculescu (13), Romania, def. Ajla Tomljanovic, Australia and Yulia Putintseva, Kazakhstan, 6-4, 7-5.

Su-Wei Hsieh, Taiwan and Lucie Hradecka (14), Czech Republic, def. Katie Boulter, Britain and Katie Swan, Britain, 6-3, 6-2.

Christina McHale, United States and Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, def. Asia Muhammad, United States and Naomi Broady, Britain, 7-5, 7-6 (3).

Kveta Peschke, Czech Republic and Nicole Melichar (12), United States, def. Monica Puig, Puerto Rico and Anett Kontaveit, Estonia, 6-4, 6-2.

Ana Bogdan, Romania and Kaitlyn Christian, United States, def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Belarus and Ying-Ying Duan, China, 6-3, 6-4.

Shuko Aoyama, Japan and Jennifer Brady, United States, def. Darija Jurak, Croatia and Qiang Wang, China, 6-2, 6-3.

Xinyun Han, China and Luksika Kumkhum, Thailand, def. Donna Vekic, Croatia and Maria Sakkari, Greece, 6-0, 6-0.

Kaia Kanepi, Estonia and Andrea Petkovic, Germany, def. Maria Irigoyen, Argentina and Carina Witthoeft, Germany, 6-4, 6-3.

And the No. 2-seeded Wozniacki was not exactly gracious in defeat after staving off five match points, but not the sixth, in what became a 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 loss to 35th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in the second round at the All England Club on Wednesday.

The reigning Australian Open champion's latest lackluster showing at Wimbledon made her the fifth top-eight seeded woman to exit by the end of Day 3.

Wozniacki said Makarova "got a little lucky" and added, "I would be very surprised if you saw her go far."

Asked what she thought of those remarks, Makarova laughed and replied: "Well, I don't know what to say. Yeah, maybe I was lucky today. Good for me. Thanks, God."

While both Williams sisters moved into the third round, as did past U.S. Open runners-up Madison Keys and Karolina Pliskova, it was Wozniacki's departure that counted as the closest thing to big news Wednesday.

She is a former No. 1 who recently claimed her first Grand Slam title. She won a grass-court tuneup tournament last weekend.

She had managed to convince herself this was going to be her year to shine at the All England Club, the only major where she's never been past the fourth round. In addition to her title on the hard courts in Australia, she's twice been the runner-up on that surface at the U.S. Open, and she's been a quarterfinalist twice on the French Open's red clay.

But a game that is principally predicated on defense can be harder to make work on the speedy grass, where Makarova produced twice as many winners Wednesday, 46-23.

"It's frustrating," Wozniacki said, "because I feel like I could have gone and done something really great here."

Instead, it's the fourth time in the past seven years that she's out in the first or second round.

She almost put together quite a comeback, though.

After trailing 5-1 in the third set, Wozniacki broke twice when Makarova served for the match. The second time, at 5-3, Makarova was within a point of victory four times but was unable to convert, wasting one of those opportunities with a double-fault. Once Wozniacki pulled even in the last set by holding at love, Makarova gave herself a bit of a talking-to.

"At 5-all, I said to myself: 'OK, calm down. Start over,' " recounted Makarova, a former top-10 player who twice has been a major semifinalist and got to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2014.

From deuce in that game, she picked up six of the last seven points.

Earlier in the match, Wozniacki was bugging out about the bugs that also showed up last year at the tournament. She insisted that something needed to be done about them.

Makarova, too, called the scene "a little bit strange and different" and "a little bit uncomfortable."

That word also described how Makarova's left-handed game made Wozniacki feel.

"I had a chance today. I fought all I had. I'm out. That's it," said Wozniacki, who actually won more total points, 94-91. "It's life sometimes. You just have to keep working and come back. And hopefully next time, luck will be on my side."

All that really matters is who wins the last point, something five-time champion Venus Williams did after a poor start for the second round in a row.

Once again, she dropped the opening set. And once again, she dominated the rest of the way, this time beating 141st-ranked qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 4-6, 6-0, 6-1. At 38, Williams was the oldest woman in the field, but she is now into the third round a year after getting to the final.

"I mean, it's just about winning the match. And so, if that's your best or not, your best doesn't matter," Williams said, "as long as you win."

Serena Williams had a much easier time, routing Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-4.

photo

AP/BEN CURTIS

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark shakes her head to avoid flying insects during her 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 loss to Ekaterina Makarova of Russia on Wednesday at Wimbledon.

photo

AP/BEN CURTIS

Ninth-seeded Venus Williams dropped the first set in her match against Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru on Wednesday, but she dominated the rest of the match to earn a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory in the second round of women’s singles competition at Wimbledon.

Sports on 07/05/2018

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