Peters Township’s Riske goes three rounds at Wimbledon
Riske goes 3 rounds
For the third time in her career, Alison Riske of McMurray reached the third round at Wimbledon before being eliminated from the grass tennis courts championships.
Riske opened action July 4, one day after celebrating her 27th birthday, with a two-set victory, 6-2, 7-5, against Sloane Stephens. Riske needed only 72 minutes to win her third match this year in a Grand Slam tournament.
Riske and Stephens, who advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2013, both entered the tournament unseeded.
Against Stephens, of Coral Springs, Fla., Riske overcame three double faults by winning points on 71 percent of her first serves. She also converted five of nine break-point opportunities. It was her first Wimbledon win since 2014, when she advanced to the third round.
In the second round, Riske defeated Kristina Mladenovic of France. After dropping the first set, 6-2, she roared back to win, 6-4, 6-4. Mladenovic entered the match seeded 12th in the tournament.
In the third round of the women’s singles draw, however, Riske succumbed to Coco Vandeweghe, 6-2, 6-4. The match against the former Fed Cup teammates lasted one hour and 15 minutes. Vandeweghe was the tournament’s No. 24 seed.
For Riske, who had only five winners against Vandeweghe’s 23, has appeared in the main draw of the tournament seven times.
The daughter of Al and Carol Riske has two other siblings, Sarah and Dan, who excelled in tennis. Sarah played at Vanderbilt and Dan played at West Liberty State. While at Peters Township High School, Riske led the Indians to a PIAA team title and won the state championship for singles in 2006. The following years, she won the USTA National Collegiate Clay Court Championships and earned a spot in the US Open qualifying draw.