WIMBLEDON — 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 consequence ended a 21-match profitable streak for Swiatek. She is a five-time Grand Slam champion, together with 4 titles on the crimson clay on the French Open — most lately final month — and one on the arduous courts on the US Open.
However the All England Membership’s grass has all the time given her probably the most hassle at any main match as a professional, though the 23-year-old from Poland did win the junior trophy as a teen.
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 finest exhibiting at any Slam was attending to the quarterfinals on the French Open twice and US Open as soon as.
This consequence additionally was surprising as a result of Swiatek not solely gained 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 at the least one key a part of what occurred: Swiatek seemed 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 saved making errors, significantly during the last two units, when Putintseva didn’t even attempt to put balls away and as an alternative was comfortable 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 provide two winners. That is as a result of her different 14 factors had been all gained because of both unforced errors (seven) or compelled 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. Usually, she seemed as flustered as she ever does throughout a match. By the top, 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 shifting into the fourth spherical had 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.