Déjà vu for Garcia, as Bouzkova knocks out No 5 seed for second Wimbledon in a row

It’s Groundhog Day for No 5 seed Caroline Garcia, who has seen her Wimbledon campaign come to an end at the hands of Marie Bouzkova for the second year in a row.

This time last year, the pair met in the round of 16 at Wimbledon, when Garcia was ranked No 55 and Bouzkova was No 66. The Czech ground out a tight 7-5, 6-2 victory to make her first ever Grand Slam quarter-final.

This year, Bouzkova again showed nerves of steel, advancing to the last 16 of Wimbledon by defeating Garcia 7-6 (0), 4-6, 7-5 in two hours 33 minutes.

Rock-solid Bouzkova capitalises on Garcia errors

It was the error count between Marie Bouzkova and Caroline Garcia that made the difference in this year’s encounter.

Garcia dominated play hitting 51 winners to Bouzkova’s 20 across the course of the match, but it was Bouzkova who played the more solid tennis, keeping her errors to a minimum. While Garcia struck a total of 53 unforced errors, Bouzkova only coughed up 14 unforced errors across the whole three sets.

This was particularly crucial when the first set went to a tiebreaker, with Bouzkova shutting down in a Djokovic-like performance to win the breaker 7-0. While Garcia bounced back to win the second set 6-4, the Czech again had the better of the tight moments in the third set, winning 7-5.

Vondrousova up next for Bouzkova

Bouzkova, ranked No 33, will play Marketa Vondrousova next.

Earlier in the tournament, Marie Bouzkova defeated Swiss qualifier Simona Waltert (6-1, 6-4) and Estonian Anett Kontaveit (6-1, 6-2).

Garcia, ranked No 5, won against American Katie Volynets (6-4, 6-3) and edged out Canadian Leylah Fernandez (3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6)) in the previous rounds of The Championships.

London (Grand Slam), other third-round results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 16.077.000, most recent results first):

• Katie Boulter vs. Elena Rybakina
• Ons Jabeur vs. Bianca Andreescu
• Anna Blinkova vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Anastasia Potapova vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Marta Kostyuk vs. Madison Keys
• Dalma Galfi vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Sorana Cirstea
• Natalija Stevanovic vs. Petra Kvitova
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Petra Martic (30): 6-2, 7-5
• Elina Svitolina (WC) beat Sofia Kenin (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Belinda Bencic (14) beat Magda Linette (23): 6-3, 6-1
• Jessica Pegula (4) beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto: 6-4, 6-0
• Marketa Vondrousova beat Donna Vekic (20): 6-1, 7-5
• Victoria Azarenka (19) beat Daria Kasatkina (11): 6-2, 6-4
• Lesia Tsurenko beat Ana Bogdan: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (18)