LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) - Come Wimbledon, there often seems to be a Czech rising at the All England Club and this year Linda Noskova could be the one to lay down the marker after she dispatched American Madison Keys 6-4 7-6(2) on Monday to reach the quarter-finals.
Eager to follow in the footsteps of her champion compatriots Petra Kvitova, Marketa Vondrousova and Barbora Krejcikova, the 21-year-old Noskova showed her growing maturity on grass to reach the last eight of the grasscourt major for the first time.
Noskova displayed the skills she had developed under the watchful eye of Martina Hingis' mother, Melanie Molitor, from the age of 3 to 19, to save both break points she faced early on before pouncing on her only opportunity in the 10th game to secure the opening set.
Playing on a sparsely filled Court One, with many fans opting to escape the blazing sun, American 26th seed Keys struggled to rediscover the touch that had left 2025 runner-up Amanda Anisimova chasing shadows in the previous round.
Just when Noskova threatened to blow away Keys in the second by surging to a 3-0 lead, the Czech's serve started misfiring uncontrollably. She delivered four double faults to get broken in the fifth game, allowing the 2025 Australian Open champion to fight back to 3-3 and drag the set into a tiebreak.
However, ninth seed Noskova was not to be denied and she produced a dropshot winner on her first match point to seal a last-eight showdown with Belgian 25th seed Elise Mertens.
KEYS RUES HER MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
"It's obviously very special for me to play even on such a court. I played a match (here on Court One) last year, it was not as happy ending as this one," said Noskova, who warmed up for Wimbledon by winning both the singles and doubles titles in Berlin.
"I'm very glad I got through this one because Madison's a really, really tough player. Incredible serve. So I'm glad I survived some of her serves to get through them."
While Noskova joins fellow Czech Karolina Muchova in the quarters as the country looks to claim the Venus Rosewater Dish for the third time in four years, the defeat snapped Keys' eight-match winning streak on grass following her success in Eastbourne last month.
"I had opportunities early in the first set to break, and I didn't even get the point started. That's pretty frustrating," Keys said after her hopes of becoming the first American to triumph at Wimbledon since Serena Williams won the last of her seven titles in 2016 were dashed.
"She's constantly dictating, and you feel like she's trying to take time away from you. Then she also has the variety. So she has a little bit of everything that makes her really dangerous, especially on this surface."
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar; Editing by Alison Williams)
