IT was not a good day to be a seed at Wimbledon, with a number of the top players knocked out of the tournament earlier than they would have hoped. Belinda Bencic was disposed of in two sets up against Kaja Juvan, while Sofia Kenin was ousted by fellow American Madison Brengle in two sets. They were not the only seeds to fall, with Bianca Andreescu going down to Alize Cornet with the Frenchwoman dominating.
Cornet made light work of the fifth seed, winning 6-2 6-1 in one hour and 22 minutes. Although it was not the quickest performance it was a convincing one, with Cornet stopping the Canadian from unlocking her usual flair and crafty court play as she registered a whopping 34 unforced errors compared to seven. Cornet had the upper hand in most of the statistical areas, winning the net points with a 67 per cent conversion rate compared to 50 per cent and while Andreescu hit more winners (17-11) simply could not do enough to knock Cornet off course.
It may have been a disappointing day for the aforementioned seeds it was definitely a good one for Ons Jabeur who fired on all cylinders despite being challenged early by Venus Williams. Jabeur had to ride the storm early before clicking into gear in the second set to reign supreme 7-5 6-0. Iga Swiatek also found her winning ways up against Vera Zvonareva 6-1 6-3, with the seventh seed progressing to the next stage in a tick over an hour.
“Every match gives me an opportunity to have more and more confidence,” Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. “So I’m pretty happy with my performance today.”
“Playing such an experienced player is never easy,” Swiatek said. “I didn’t know what to expect at the beginning, because she has many years of playing on grass and I have only two, basically. So I wanted to be aggressive from the beginning and just play really powerful. And I did that, so I’m pretty happy.”
It was an intense battle between Ukrainian Elina Svitolina and Alison Van Uytvanck with the match going to three sets as the momentum swung back and forth. Svitolina got the jump early winning the first before Van Uytvanck hit back in the second but simply could not maintain that level of high intensity in the third going down 6-3 2-6 6-3. It was a gruelling match that lasted one hour and 42 minutes as the two players left nothing to chance.
The other three setter of the day was between Great Britain’s Katie Boulter and second seed Aryna Sabalenka with the latter securing the win 6-4 3-6 3-6. Sabalenka did not have things all her own way and was put through the wringer by Boulter as she recorded 30 unforced errors compared to her lower ranked opponent who only notched up 14. It took just over two hours for a winner to be decided highlighting just how intense the contest was with Sabalenka having to dig deep into her bag of tricks to progress through to the next stage.
Karolina Pliskova won through to the third round after defeating Donna Vekic as Garbine Muguruza also continued her winning ways downing Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove in an hour. Elena Rybakina was the other seed to move into the third round with a couple of Round of 128 matches still being played across the course of the day.
RESULTS:
(2) Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) defeated Katie Boulter (GBR) 6-4 3-6 3-6
(21) Ons Jabeur (TUS) defeated Venus Williams (USA) 7-5 6-0
(7) Iga Swiatek (Pol) defeated Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 6-1 6-3
Madison Brengle (USA) defeated Sofia Kenin (USA) 6-2 6-4
(11) Garbine Muguruza (ESP) defeated Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove (NED) 6-1 6-4
Sloane Stephens (USA) defeated Kristie Ahn (USA) 7-5 6-3
Madison Keys (USA) defeated Lauren Davis (USA) 6-1 6-4
(8) Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated Donna Vekic (CRO) 6-2 6-2
Viktorija Golubic (SWI) defeated Danielle Collins (USA) 6-2 6-0
Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (COL) defeated (32) Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) 7-5 6-2
Irina-Camelia Begu (ROM) defeated (26) Petra Martic (CRO) 7-5 7-6 6-3
Tereza Martincova (CZE) defeated Nadia Podoroska (ARG) 6-3 7-6
Liudmila Samasonova (RUS) defeated Jessica Pegula (USA) 6-4 6-3 6-3
Elena Rybakina (KAZ) defeated Claire Liu (USA) 6-4 6-4
(3) Elina Svitolina (UKR) defeated Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) 6-3 2-6 6-3
Alize Cornet (FRA) defeated (5) Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 6-2 6-1
Kaja Juvan (SLO) defeated (9) Bianca Bencic (SWI) 6-3 6-3
(12) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) defeated Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) 6-1 6-3
Emma Raducanu (GBR) defeated Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS) 7-6 6-0
Magda Linette (POL) defeated Amanda Anisimova (USA) 2-6 6–3 6-1
Photo credit: Getty images
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