Day 3 was slow to get going but as to be expected with the schedule, peaked in the evening. There were so many good women’s matches on at the same time.  There were more upsets in the women’s draw with five of the top 12 seeds already out after just three days. In case you were stuck at work or unable to follow the tennis today, here’s a round-up of the women’s action on day 3 of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships.

Take a bow, Bethanie Mattek-Sands

It’s not difficult to pick out the performance of the day. Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated the number 7 seed, Ana Ivanovic with a supreme performance to win, 6-3 6-4. She stuck to her aggressive gameplan throughout and never let up during the 70 minute contest out on a sun-laden court 3.

Mattek-Sands completely outplayed Ivanovic from start to finish. She was so aggressive and reaped the benefits of her superb net game. Mattek-Sands was 29/38 on net approaches and finished with 19 volley winners. There were so many tremendous pick ups from Mattek-Sands. Ivanovic didn’t play a bad match but she looked flat and unable to get into the match. Beth gave her no chance whatsoever. I’ve seen Beth play like this before for a set, may-be a set and a half, but I was really impressed that she managed to maintain her performance for the entirety of the match and give Ana very little to play with.

Mattek-Sands has played some good ball this year without getting the wins. This was her best result of the year and it seems that having to go through qualifying where she won three matches in straight sets was ideal for her. Next up for Beth is Belinda Bencic in the third round. BB came through with another third set bagel, defeating Anna-Lena Friedsam, 7-5 4-6 6-0. I am really, really, really looking forward to this match and I think it will be fascinating. A FULL preview coming tomorrow! 🙂

CoCo upsets Karo

In the first match of the day on court 17, CoCo Vandeweghe upset the number 11 seed, Karolina Pliskova in two tight sets, 7-6(5) 6-4 in one hour and 33 minutes. I’d predicted big things for Pliskova at this tournament but Peeling predictions started to go down the drain today haha! Pliskova saved four set points serving at *5-6 in the first set, three of which were on winners including a tremendous down-the-line winner. It seemed saving those set points might give Pliskova a mental edge as she quickly went up 3-0 in the tiebreak but CoCo, deservedly, came back to win it. Pliskova’s racquet went flying at the end of the set…

Pliskova got the early break in the second set and saved a break point to consolidate to 3-0. However, Pliskova looked flat and subdued, and her serve began to misfire more frequently. Vandeweghe broke Pliskova’s serve twice in a row, the second of which came on a really rough game from Pliskova. Vandeweghe’s serve didn’t let up and she was fully deserving of the win.

Pliskova has had a superb year but she is still yet to make it past the third round at a Grand Slam. This looked like a decent draw although Vandeweghe is a tricky player on grass. I wonder when Karolina’s big break will come because her consistency on tour suggests that it is more a matter of when and not if. Her year has been very similar to that of Carla Suarez Navarro where they peaked on the WTA tour, but not made it past the third round in any of the three Slams. Vandeweghe goes on to play Sam Stosur in the third round where both players will be aiming to reach the second week of Wimbledon for the first time in their career.

Madison gets the job done

Madison Keys‘s first match against Stefanie Voegele was tied at 2-2 in the third set when play was halted for darkness on Tuesday evening. On resumption, Keys was marginally better as she strung a couple of impressive games together and then just about held on for the victory. Keys needed six match points, losing a *40-0 lead in her final service game which consisted of aces and double faults. In reference to the shaky final game, Keys remarked in her on-court interview, “that’s what you call nerves”.

Keys finished with extraordinary stats of 60 (!) winners including 21 aces. It was still a very erratic performance from Keys but she showed some mental toughness to come back from a set and a break down. Keys has a reasonably favourable draw and she could become a real threat in the bottom half of the women’s draw if she can play her way into form. In another match that was held over from Monday, Elizaveta Kulichkova beat Yanina Wickmayer, 10-8 in the third set to set up a second round match against Keys. Kulichkova can hitttt the ball so it will be a big hitting clash.

Venus v Poots was great

The final match of the day was Court No.2 LIVED up to expectation. Yulia Putintseva or Poots gave Venus a real run for her money. Poots was up a break on Venus in the first set, continually getting Venus on the run with her unique mix of variety and pace. Venus just about held on in the first set tiebreak despite going from 4-0 to 4-4. Poots stayed around in the second set; she saved two match points with superb winners but Venus’s quality shone through in the end. There was a superb crowd at the end and court 2 really got behind Poots!

Plain sailing for Lucie

After a tight first round match in which she was just a few points from departing Wimby, Lucie had a much more straightforward second round match. Alison Riske served for the upset win over Lucie in the first round, but the Roland Garros finalist just about survived, 3-6 7-5 6-3. In her second round match, Lucie didn’t face a break point against Su-Wei Hsieh, prevailing, 6-2 6-3 in 66 minutes. Lucie was dominant on serve and didn’t allow Hsieh to play her funky game. The only downside of Lucie’s day was her break point conversion, which was 4/13. Lucie failed to break Hsieh’s serve in three of her service games. Regularly, she ends up losing her serve in the next game but Lucie was serving great today. In the third round, Lucie will play Sloane Stephens. For me, this is a 50/50 match. I have no idea who will come through!