Can anyone stop Serena? Talking points ahead of Tuesday’s action at Wimbledon

The Wimbledon women’s singles takes centre stage on Tuesday – and nobody imagined the quarter-final line-up would shape up as it has.

With every top 10 seed out already, here Press Association Sport looks at the talking points for another busy day at the championships.

Who would back against Williams now?

Martina Navratilova reckons “the seas have parted” for Serena Williams. Despite the shocks elsewhere in this tournament, it takes a leap of faith to believe world number 52 Camila Giorgi will be the player to halt the American’s charge. Italian Giorgi has never lasted so long at Wimbledon, but her lone WTA tour title did come on grass, at Rosmalen three years ago, so she does have some pedigree on the surface. Seven-time Wimbledon champion Williams has rather more, however, and unless she runs out of gas in her second grand slam since becoming a mother, she should clinch a semi-final berth without great drama.

Russia’s World Cup dream may be over, but Wimbledon is a different story

Russia has only ever had one Wimbledon singles champion – Maria Sharapova in 2004 – but Daria Kasatkina has designs on changing that. The 21-year-old fought off hard-hitting Alison Van Uytvanck on Monday and will take on former Australian Open and US Open champion Angelique Kerber in Tuesday’s Centre Court opener. “I’m just like an artist and I’m playing with the heart,” the likeable Kasatkina said. She vowed she would not let the occasion get to her, citing recent grand slam quarter-final experience at the French Open, saying she would approach the match “with the feeling that it’s just the next match, it’s not like something huge”.

Dominika’s republic?

Could the player who came to Wimbledon grumbling about her treatment by the seedings committee end up reigning over the All England Club on Saturday? Dominika Cibulkova has played as well as anybody so far, has yet to drop a set, and the former Australian Open runner-up will surely provide stiff opposition for 12th seed Jelena Ostapenko. This is a third Wimbledon quarter-final for Slovakian Cibulkova and Russians Sharapova and Elena Vesnina have blocked her path previously. A rules controversy blighted her fourth-round win over Hsieh Su-wei, but if she can put that out of her mind then it could be third time lucky at the last-eight stage for Johanna Konta’s second-round conqueror.

Murray marches on

Jamie Murray is doing the first family of British tennis proud again, and a first Wimbledon men’s doubles title could be on the cards after he and Bruno Soares swept through to the quarter-finals. They are the highest seeded pair remaining and playing that way too. Andy Murray has said he does not enjoy watching his big brother in action, but, given the former singles world number one is due on site over the next two days, surely he will be lending his support.