Kerber, Pavlyuchenkova into women’s QF

Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber has advanced to the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the second time in three years, beating Misaki Doi 6-3 6-1 at the start of the busiest day in grand slam tennis.

The fourth-seeded German needed just over an hour to defeat the 49th-ranked Doi, who was the first Japanese woman to reach the fourth round of a major tournament in 10 years.

It was the first match between the two left-handers since January’s Australian Open, where Kerber saved a match point before beating Doi in three sets in the first round.

Kerber went on to beat Serena Williams in the final for her first grand slam title.

On Monday, Kerber broke Doi four times and never faced a break point. She also had only nine unforced errors, compared to 20 for Doi.

Kerber, who reached the semi-finals at the All England Club in 2012 and the quarter-finals in 2014, will next play either Simona Halep or Madison Keys.

Also advancing in early play Monday was No.21 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, who reached her first quarter-final at Wimbledon by beating 27th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-3.

Pavlyuchenkova had only seven unforced errors, 15 fewer than Vandeweghe, and broke the American five times. Vandeweghe, a 2015 quarterfinalist at the All England Club, had lost serve only twice in the first three rounds this year.

“A lot of things weren’t working,” Vandeweghe said.

“Missing easy first balls. … The fact I was getting pushed around out there – that’s me not doing my job.”

Seeking to reach her first major semi-final, Pavlyuchenkova will play either No.1 Serena Williams or No.13 Svetlana Kuznetsova next.

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