Saturday, June 30, 2012

Solid gold

Today at Wimbledon, Yaroslava Shvedova played a "golden set": Playing in the third round against French Open finalist Sara Errani, Shvedova won the first set without dropping a point. She is the first woman to ever do so, the first player to ever do so at Wimbledon, and--in fact--that first player to ever do so in a major.

Shvedova, a wild card, hit 14 winners and four aces in her 24 straight points. She won the first set in just 15 minutes, then Errani won the first point of the second set. Shvedova advanced to the round of 16 with a 6-0, 6-4 victory.

The only other tennis pro in the Open Era to play a golden set was Bill Scanlon, who did so in Delray Beach in 1985. But one woman did come close in 2006: Shvedova won 23 straight points off of Amy Frasier in the opening set in Memphis, but then went on to lose the match.

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