World No. 1 Iga Świątek falls to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva at Wimbledon

The ladies’s No. 1 has been dethroned: Poland’s Iga Świątek, who has held the highest spot within the girls’s tour nearly totally since 2022, misplaced to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva within the third spherical of Wimbledon on Saturday. Putintseva, who’s unranked, will now advance to the fourth spherical.

After taking the primary set, Świątek stumbled by means of the subsequent two, falling 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Świątek made quite a lot of unforced errors all through the match, ending with a shot straight into the online to offer Putintseva the win.

The 23-year-old star has received 5 Grand Slam occasions since beginning on the WTA circuit in 2018 and has held the No. 1 spot for 110 weeks. Świątek has been only on clay: 4 of these Grand Slam victories had been on the French Open, whereas the fifth was on the 2022 U.S. Open. A Wimbledon title has remained elusive, although, with Świątek’s greatest outcome being a quarterfinals look in 2023.

Świątek has had a number of large losses since first capturing the No. 1 place in April 2022, together with an early exit on the Australian Open in January. She has held onto the highest spot regardless — and she or he’ll proceed to even after Saturday’s outcome. Nonetheless, it is a powerful blow for the younger champ, who has completely dominated the ladies’s area over the previous 4 years.

Świątek has solely been dethroned as No. 1 as soon as since 2022, when Aryna Sabalenka took the No. 1 after Świątek misplaced within the 2023 U.S. Open. It solely took Świątek a couple of weeks to bounce again, reclaiming the spot after profitable the WTA Finals in November 2023.

Putintseva will now play No. 13-ranked Jeļena Ostapenko on Monday within the Spherical of 16. Świątek, in the meantime, will head residence sooner than anticipated.