By Christian Radnedge
LONDON (Reuters) -There were to be no Fourth of July celebrations for American Madison Keys as she joined the exodus of seeds from Wimbledon with a 6-3 6-3 defeat by 104th-ranked German Laura Siegemund in the third round on Friday.
The sixth seed looked a far cry from the player who won her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open earlier this year, racking up unforced errors – 31 in total – and wayward serves on a sun-drenched Court Two.
The match will not live long in the memory for those in attendance, save for 37-year-old Siegemund who, after a trade of breaks early in the first set, went 4-2 up on Keys’ serve with a cute dropshot. From there, the German saw out the first set.
Keys broke in the first game of the second set with a whipped forehand crosscourt winner and roared “come on!” as she geed herself up to get back into contention.
It did not work as Siegemund broke straight back and yet another unforced error from Keys handed a second break to the German.
Serving to stay in the match, Keys double faulted for the fourth time, which summed up her afternoon as the Americans in the crowd became unusually reserved. She saved three match points but could not stop Siegemund serving out the win.
The German, now the oldest player left in the women’s singles draw, jumped with glee upon sealing victory and will play her first ever Wimbledon fourth round against Argentine lucky loser Solana Sierra.
“I only play for myself, I don’t feel like I need to prove anything anymore… It’s important to remember the core of why you are doing this… I’m playing for me and I don’t feel pressure this way,” Siegemund said on court.
(Reporting by Christian Radnedge, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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