No. 1 Iga Swiatek loses in Wimbledon’s third round – NBC4 Washington

No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek once more faltered at Wimbledon, shedding within the third spherical to Yulia Putintseva 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Saturday.

The outcome ended a 21-match profitable streak for Swiatek. She is a five-time Grand Slam champion, together with 4 titles on the purple clay on the French Open — most just lately final month — and one on the onerous courts on the U.S. Open.

The All England Membership’s grass has all the time given her essentially the most hassle as a professional at any main event, though the 23-year-old from Poland did win the junior trophy as an adolescent.

Swiatek has solely as soon as been so far as the quarterfinals at Wimbledon; that was final 12 months, when she misplaced at that stage. In 2022, her 37-match unbeaten run ended with a third-round loss to Alize Cornet on the All England Membership.

Swiatek has talked about wanting ahead to bettering on grass, however she determined to withdraw final month from the one tuneup occasion that was initially on her schedule earlier than Wimbledon.

The Thirty fifth-ranked Putintseva now has an eight-match run of her personal, all on grass, together with a title at Birmingham earlier than arriving in London. Nonetheless, that is the primary time in 10 appearances at Wimbledon that the 29-year-old from Kazakhstan made it previous the second spherical.

Her greatest displaying at any Slam was attending to the quarterfinals on the French Open twice and U.S. Open as soon as.

This outcome additionally was surprising as a result of Swiatek not solely received all 4 earlier conferences in opposition to Putintseva, but additionally claimed each set that they had performed.

Requested throughout a postmatch interview on No. 1 Court docket how she managed to emerge with the victory, the often-animated Putintseva replied: “I do not know. Actually, I do not.”

Nicely, right here is no less than one key a part of what occurred: Swiatek regarded little or no like somebody who has led the WTA rankings for almost each week since April 2022 and is assured of remaining there it doesn’t matter what occurs the remainder of the best way at Wimbledon.

She stored making errors, significantly over the past two units, when Putintseva didn’t even attempt to put balls away and as an alternative was glad to permit Swiatek to assist her.

When Putintseva was constructing a 4-0 lead within the final set by grabbing 16 of its first 19 factors, she solely wanted to supply two winners. That is as a result of her different 14 factors have been all gained because of both unforced errors (seven) or pressured errors (seven) off Swiatek’s racket.

After one miss into the web, Swiatek muttered to herself. After one other level went awry, she positioned her hand over her mouth. Typically, she regarded as flustered as she ever does throughout a match. By the tip, she had amassed 38 unforced errors, greater than twice as many as her opponent’s 15.

Subsequent up for Putintseva is a matchup in opposition to 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who’s seeded thirteenth. Additionally transferring into the fourth spherical have been 2021 French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova, No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya, No. 21 Elina Svitolina and unseeded Wang Xinyu.

Svitolina superior with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 10 Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, together with at Wimbledon every of the previous two years.

Among the many males’s winners have been No. 4 Alexander Zverev, whose left knee was handled by a coach after a second-set tumble whereas eliminating Cam Norrie 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (15), together with 2021 U.S. Open champ Daniil Medvedev, No. 9 Alex de Minaur, No. 14 Ben Shelton, No. 16 Ugo Humbert, Arthur Fils, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Roberto Bautista Agut.

Shelton’s 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Denis Shapovalov in a gathering between two big-serving left-handers was the 21-year-old American’s third consecutive five-set win, the primary participant to do this at Wimbledon since Ernests Fulbis in 2018.

No man within the Open period (which dates to 1968) has ever received 4 matches in a row in 5 units at any main event.

Shelton was a semifinalist finally 12 months’s U.S. Open and is coached by his father, Bryan, who received to the fourth spherical at Wimbledon as a participant in 1994.

“We’re again, massive canine!” Ben shouted over to Dad afterward.

Shelton’s opponent Sunday is No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

There have already got been 33 five-set matches by means of one week of play, essentially the most ever at any Slam within the Open period. Essentially the most for a complete event in that span is 35.