World number one Swiatek crashes out at Wimbledon as Zverev sails through
6th July 2024
Swiatek has never gotten past the last 8 at Wimbledon.
- The upset ended Swiatek's 21-match win streak.
- The Pole, who has never got past the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, committed 38 unforced errors to Putintseva's 15.
- The diminutive Putintseva goes on to face the equally fiery Jelena Ostapenko for a quarter-final place.
World number one Iga Swiatek was dumped out of Wimbledon by
Yulia Putintseva on Saturday as Novak Djokovic set his sights on making the
fourth round for the 16th time.
Top seed Swiatek, who won a fourth French Open and fifth
Grand Slam title last month, was stunned 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the third round by
Putintseva, the Russian-born Kazakh.
The upset ended Swiatek's 21-match win streak while the
diminutive Putintseva goes on to face the equally fiery Jelena Ostapenko for a
quarter-final place.
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"Feels great, I was just so focused on just playing
fast and not giving her any time and that's pretty much it," said
29-year-old Putintseva after her win on Court One.
"I was thinking during the match that I had already
beaten a world number one on grass so I think it was meant to be," she
added, recalling her win over Naomi Osaka in Birmingham in 2019.
After winning the first set, it appeared business as usual
for Swiatek, who went into Saturday's match with a 4-0 head-to-head record over
the 35th-ranked Putintseva.
However, Putintseva, who stands at just 1.63m (5ft 4ins)
stormed back in the second set on the back of breaks in the fourth and sixth
games.
She held her nerve to cruise to a double break and a 4-0
lead in the decider.
Swiatek saved two match points but was defeated on the third
when she buried a forehand return into the net.
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The Pole, who has never got past the quarterfinals at
Wimbledon, committed 38 unforced errors to Putintseva's 15. The Kazakh saved
seven of eight break points.
Putintseva, a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist,
extended her grass-court streak this year to eight wins after clinching the
Birmingham title last month.
Elsewhere, world number four Alexander Zverev put on another
serving masterclass to reach the last 16 for the third time, seeing off
Britain's Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (17/15).
Zverev needed six match points to seal the deal in a
third-set tiebreak which stretched to over 20 minutes.
The 27-year-old German didn't face a single break point and
clubbed 15 aces in his 52 winners.
He has only faced four break points in three matches and
saved them all.
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"I do feel like a cow on ice sometimes," he said
of his grass-court movement.
France's Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard dropped serve for the
first time in the tournament, but still clinched a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4
victory against Emil Ruusuvuori.
Mpetshi Perricard, who turns 21 on Monday, is the first
lucky loser to make the last 16 since Dick Norman in 1995.
On a memorable day for France, Arthur Fils claimed a 4-6,
6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over 2023 quarter-finalist Roman Safiullin.
Fils, ranked 34, unleashed 57 winners and will face ninth
seed Alex de Minaur for a last-eight place.
French number one Ugo Humbert defeated Brandon Nakashima of
the United States in four sets to set-up a last-16 clash with defending
champion Carlos Alcaraz.
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American 14th seed Ben Shelton beat Denis Shapovalov in five
sets and will face world number one Jannik Sinner in the last 16.
Shelton followed in the footsteps of his father Bryan who
made the fourth round in 1994.
"We're back, big dog," Shelton told his father on
court.
Djokovic is looking to equal Roger Federer's record of eight
Wimbledon triumphs and claim a 25th Grand Slam title in total.
Just weeks after a right knee operation, Djokovic tackles
47th-ranked Alexei Popyrin, whom he beat in four sets at the Australian Open
earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray's 19-year Wimbledon career finished
on a low.
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Former world number one Murray, who will retire after the
Paris Olympics, didn't play singles after failing to recover from surgery to
remove a cyst from his spine.
On Thursday, he and brother Jamie were defeated in the first
round of men's doubles.
Murray, the 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon champion, was scheduled
to partner Raducanu in Saturday's last match on Court One.
"Unfortunately I woke up with some stiffness in my
right wrist so therefore I have decided to make the very tough decision to
withdraw from the mixed doubles tonight," said Raducanu.
Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, faces New Zealand's
Lulu Sun on Sunday for a place in the women's singles quarter-finals.
Tunisia's Ons Jabeur, the runner-up in the last two years, was defeated 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) by Ukrainian 21st seed Elina Svitolina, a semi-finalist in 2023.
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