Top seed Angelique Kerber will lose her world number one ranking after being beaten by Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round at Wimbledon. Muguruza, the 14th seed and a runnerup at SW19 in 2015, won an enthralling match 4-6 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes on court two. The German, a finalist in 2016, had needed to reach Saturday’s fi nal to have a chance of retaining her ranking. Muguruza, 23, will play Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the last eight. Big-hitting Muguruza was encouraged to go on the attack by her coach Conchita Martinez, the 1994 champion who is still the only Spanish woman to win Wimbledon.
The 14th seed’s ferocious backhand began to misfi re at a crucial time at the end of the fi rst set but she continued her assault and was soon level. Kerber’s counter-punching style meant she was far steadier throughout but she eventually cracked at the end of a topsyturvy deciding set. The 29-year-old German lost in the fi nal here last year, and was controversially overlooked for a slot on Centre Court or Court One, which featured four of the men’s last-16 matches on Monday and only two of the women.
Kerber initially seemed unhappy with the condition of court two, kicking the patches of dust by the baseline after repeatedly losing her footing in the early stages of the match. She won two of the four Grand Slam tournaments in 2016 but has not reached the quarter-fi nals at any of the three she has played in 2017, and will be replaced as number one by Romania’s Simona Halep, 25, (who plays Victoria Azarenka in the last 16), if she reaches the semi-fi nal
