The Queen of Clay will remain uncrowned on grass for another year after world No.1 Iga Swiatek suffered a surprise third round defeat to Yulia Putintseva at Wimbledon.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
She lost 3-6 6-1 6-2 to the 35th-ranked Russian-born Kazakhstani.
It is the third year in a row Swiatek has won the French Open only to go out early a month later at Wimbledon, where she has only made the quarter-final once, last year, and the second week twice.
Which is all a bit surprising given the now 23-year-old from Poland won junior Wimbledon as a teenager.
Also beaten on a Saturday of shocks was last year's finalist Ons Jabeur, downed 6-1 7-6 (7-4) by Elina Svitolina.
Swiatek, whose loss ended a 21-match winning streak, has talked about improving on grass, but she withdrew last month from the only grass warm-up booked into her schedule.
Putintseva now has an eight-match run of her own, all on grass, including a title at Birmingham before arriving in London. Still, this is the first time in 10 appearances at Wimbledon that the 29-year-old has made it past the second round.
Swiatek had also won all four previous meetings in straight sets.
Asked on No. 1 Court how she managed to win Putintseva replied: "I don't know. Really, I don't."
Swiatek's performance appears to have been the main reason.
Putintseva won 16 of the first 19 points in the second set to go 4-0 up while only hitting two winners. Her other 14 points were all gained thanks to either unforced errors (seven) or forced errors (seven) off Swiatek's racquet.
By the end, Swiatek had made 38 unforced errors, more than twice as many as those by Putinseva, who will now play Latvian 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko, who beat American Bernarda Pera 6-1 6-3.
"My tank of really pushing myself to the limits became suddenly empty," said Swiatek.
"I was surprised. But I know what I did wrong after Roland Garros. I didn't rest properly. I'm not going to make this mistake again.
"I need to recover better after the clay court season, both physically and mentally.
"For me going from where I felt like I'm playing the best tennis in my life to another surface where I struggle a little bit more, it's not easy."
Jabeur's long cherished dream to hold aloft the Venus Rosewater Dish was dashed for at least another year by her 80-minute loss. After a one-sided first set the 10th seed managed to put up more of a fight in the second set and even had set point at 6-5 up on Svitolina's serve.
But her forehand down the line fell millilitres wide and Svitolina grabbed that reprieve to get out of trouble. She now plays Xinyu Wang, who beat the last British woman, Harriet Dart.
Elena Rybakina thrashed former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, playing her first Wimbledon since 2019 after a lengthy break from the game, 6-0 6-1 in just under an hour.
She will now meet Russian 17th seed Anna Kalinskaya who beat compatriot Liudmila Samsonova, seeded 15, 7-6 (7-4) 6-2.
Also progressing was 11th seed Danielle Collins who dispatched Brazilian 20th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4 6-4 .
with agencies
Australian Associated Press
