A HUGE day of Wimbledon action took place on Saturday, as six of the seven women’s seeds prevailed and a couple of Czechs and Aussies continued their fine form on the grass. Meanwhile, a couple of teens charged into the Round of 16.

It was the two teenagers who stunned crowds on the sixth day of action, as 20th seed Coco Gauff and wildcard Emma Raducanu both executed straight sets victories to enter the second week. While Gauff almost appears to be a seasoned professional here after a couple of years on the tour, 18-year-old and 338th ranked Raducano stunned top 50 Romanian Sorana Cirstea to enter her maiden grand slam fourth round.

“My emotions were, I just couldn’t put them into words really,” Raducanu said. “I was so overwhelmed. The last point, I kind of just dropped my racquet and fell to the floor. It was just also instinctive and in the moment. I had no idea what just happened. Right now I’m on such a buzz and such a high.”

The British teenager entered the event as the lowest-ranked player in the draw, but you would not know it from her work out on court. She claimed the 6-3 7-5 victory over Cirstea in one hour and 40 minutes, winning 83 per cent of her first serve points and won close to 50 per cent on the return. Raducanu also hit 30 winners to 17 unforced errors, compared to Cirstea’s 17 apiece.

“I knew Sorana was a very tough opponent,” Raducanu said. “I just thought that playing on Court 1 at Wimbledon is what you dream of. Not many people get the opportunity to. I was like, ‘Wow, this is such an experience, such an opportunity.’

“I just thought, ‘Well, I’m just going to go out there and have fun.’ I really think I did. I’d never played such good tennis in some of the points. I was just having so much fun.”

Meanwhile on centre court, Gauff prevailed over Slovenian Kaja Juvan 6-3 6-3 to record the quickest match of the day, just 65 minutes.

“I would say this is the best I feel on my serve,” Gauff said, in her post-match press conference. “Honestly, every time I play on grass, my serve feels pretty good just because the court’s faster. Some balls that might not be non-returnable actually are. Same with aces.”

She takes on former champion Angelique Kerber in the fourth round, after the in-form German defeated Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich in a topsy-turvy, 2-6 6-0 6-1 clash. 25th seed Kerber claimed the win in just 75 minutes, coming from behind and hitting 22 winners for just seven unforced errors in the process.

“In my next match, it will be important to have a high first-serve percentage,” said Gauff. “Angie is a great player, great returner, does well on grass. Does well on all surfaces, but especially grass.”

“[Kerber is] a really nice person off the court,” Gauff continued. “I remember when she won Wimbledon. I don’t know, I guess it was a win that a lot of people weren’t expecting at the time. I mean, she did it. She obviously knows what it takes to win at this level.”

Two Australians head into the fourth round, with top seed Ash Barty finding her way there with a victory over Czech Katerina Siniakova, while Ajla Tomljanovic was made to earn her third round win over Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, who claimed the Eastbourne trophy last week. Barty’s 6-3 7-5 victory over Siniakova was complete in one hour and 37 minutes as the world number one hit eight aces and 26 winners, while Tomljanovic came from behind to win her 4-6 6-4 6-2 clash, making just 11 unforced errors to Ostapenko’s 31.

While Siniakova could not get the job done over Barty, a couple of Czechs found their form as 14th seed Barbora Krejcikova and 19th seed Karolina Muchova both reigned supreme in the Round of 32. Meanwhile, 30th seed Paula Badosa overcame Pole Magda Linette.

WIMBLEDON ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[1] Ash Barty (AUS) defeated Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 6-3 7-5
[14] Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) defeated Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 7-6 3-6 7-5
[19] Karolina Muchova (CZE) defeated [16] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 7-5 6-3
[20] Coco Gauff (USA) defeated Kaja Juvan (SLO) 6-3 6-3
[25] Angelique Kerber (GER) defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) 2-6 6-0 6-1
[30] Paula Badosa (ESP) defeated Magda Linette (POL) 5-7 6-2 6-4
[WC] Emma Raducanu (GBR) defeated Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 6-3 7-5
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) defeated Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 4-6 6-4 6-2

Picture credit: AELTC/Florian Eisele