Treble trouble

It was an ill wind for the Yanks at Wimbledon yesterday. The 16 players who were sent home included all three Americans who were left in the tournament. Maddie Keys and Coco Gauff were both unceremoniously dismissed in straight sets. Gauff was no match for wily former champ Angie Kerber, who is nearly twice Gauff's age, and Keys faded in not-atypical fashion to someone named Viktorija Golubic.

The other American to fall was Sebastian Korda, who is really coming on these days. He lost in five sets to Karen Khachanov. In a Wimbledon classic, their last set was decided by a score of 10 games to 8. A moral victory for Korda, perhaps, but he's done in London.

The North American continent was represented well, however, by Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada. "FAA," as he's becoming known, outlasted Alexander Zverev, who spontaneously combusted in a five-setter.

So who made it through besides those four? On the women's side, which plays again in a few hours, Ash Barty is still in it, beating French Open champ Barbora Krejcikova. Another Aussie, Ajla Tomljanovic, defeated the British Cinderella, Emma Raducanu, who retired in the second set with some sort of stomach ailment. (It may have been severe butterflies.) Karolina Pliskova won the battle of the -ovas, besting Liudmila Samsonova. The other surviving -ova is Karolina Muchova, who defeated Paula Badosa. Aryna Sabalenka posted a three-set victory over Elena Rybakina, and Ons Jabeur racked up a three-set upset over Iga Swiatek. Jabeur is the first Arab woman ever to make it this far in singles at Wimbledon.

That leaves today's action as follows, with the favorites shown in bold:

Czech Republic (8) Karolina Pliskova vs. Switzerland Viktorija Golubic

Czech Republic (19) Karolina Muchova vs. Germany (25) Angelique Kerber

Tunisia (21) Ons Jabeur vs. Belarus (2) Aryna Sabalenka

Australia (1) Ashleigh Barty vs. Australia Ajla Tomljanovic

As you can see, there will be one Australian in the semi-finals, and there could be as many as two -ovas, both Czech. There are two unseeded players in the quarterfinals, and three seeded at 19 or lower. Women's tennis is wide open.

Over on the men's side, besides Khachanov and FAA, the winners included the two 600-pound gorillas. Roger Federer defeated Lorenzo Sonego in straight sets, just as Novak Djokovic manhandled Cristian Garin.  Denis Shapovalov swept Roberto Bautista Agut, and Matteo Berrettini had no problems with Ilya Ivashka. The most surprising outcome of the day was unseeded Marton Fucsovics coming from behind to defeat Andrey Rublev in five sets.

There was one men's singles match that didn't get finished before Manic Monday turned into a pumpkin due to rain. Hubert Hurkacz and Daniil Medvedev will pick up where they left off today. Medvedev's ahead 2 sets to 1, and Hurkacz is up 4 to 3 in the fourth set. It's Medvedev's serve. The winner of that one will play Federer tomorrow. The other quarterfinals tomorrow will be Djoker against Fucsovics, Berrettini against FAA, and Khachanov against Shapovalov.

It's possible that we will have an all-Russian (Medvedev-Khachanov) or an all-Canadian (Shapovalov-FAA) men's singles final. Possible, but unthinkable.