Casanova’s turn to shock

Casanova pulled off her second big win of the week on Thursday Keystone

Swiss teenager Myriam Casanova has enjoyed another surprise win at Wimbledon, just one day after George Bastl's shock victory over Pete Sampras.

Casanova (WTA 180) stunned Austrian 29th seed Barbara Schett (WTA 33) on Thursday to reach the third round of her first ever Wimbledon tournament.

After clinching the first set 6-3 the 17-year-old Swiss appeared in trouble during the second set which she lost 3-6.

But Schett was unable to complete the expected fightback and surrendered the deciding set by the same 3-6 scoreline.

Second surprise

Having come through the qualifying round to reach this year’s main draw, the young Swiss Fed Cup team member is now celebrating her second successive win over a clear favourite.

“I never expected to qualify for the third round. It’s completely insane,” Casanova said after the match.

In Monday’s first round action, Casanova saw off Slovakia’s Henrieta Nagyova (WTA 51), an opponent who she also got the better of during Switzerland’s 2-3 Fed Cup defeat in Bratislava last April.

Having seen off the world number 51 and 33, Casanova is now to be rewarded with an even more illustrious opponent.

Waiting for the Swiss in the third round will be Belgian sixth seed Justine Henin (WTA 6), the losing finalist of last year’s Wimbledon tournament.

“It would be great if I qualified for the next round, but one shouldn’t dream. I just want to enjoy the match against Henin,” Casanova said.

Schnyder and Gagliardi out

Soon after Thursday’s win, Casanova found herself in the unlikely position of being Switzerland’s last woman at Wimbledon, following second round defeats for both Patty Schnyder and Emmanuelle Gagliardi.

Seeded 17th this year, Schnyder suffered an unlucky draw when she was pitted against 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez in her second match.

Although now ranked 66th in the world, the 30-year-old Spaniard proved against Schnyder that she is still a threat – downing the Swiss number two in straight sets (6-1, 6-3).

Gagliardi (WTA 47) was also unable to follow Casanova into the third round on Thursday, with the Swiss number three going out in the second round to Bulgaria’s Magdalena Maleeva.

Gagliardi never looked like causing an upset of her own against the tournament’s 19th seed, losing the match 4-6, 3-6.

Kratochvil through

In the men’s draw Swiss number two Michel Kratochvil (ATP 45) overcame a bad start against Georgia’s Irakli Labadze (ATP 86) to eventually join Bastl in the third round.

The 23-year-old from Bern surrendered the first set of Thursday’s match 3-6, but responded in style to take the second set 6-0.

The next two sets were much closer affairs, with both ending in tie-breaks. But it was Kratochvil whose nerves held with the Swiss player taking both sets to complete a 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) victory.

Kratochvil now appears to have a good chance of making it into the second week of the Grand Slam event. His third round opponent will be the Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek, who is currently ranked 147th in the world.

Marc Rosset, was unable to follow Kratochvil in the third round. The world number 115 was beaten 6-2, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 by Nicolas Escudé from France, who currently ranks 33rd in the world.

swissinfo with agencies