World No 1 Iga Swiatek and Wimbledon’s back-to-back finalist Ons Jabeur were big-name casualties, with both suffering third round losses within half hour of each other.
Their sudden departures will give encouragement to everyone left in the race, with Emma Raducanu among those looking to capitalise.
Fan favourite Jabeur had lost the last two Wimbledon finals to Elena Rybakina and Marketa Vondrousova. The 29-year-old Tunisian had hoped to go one step further this time around, but was powerless to stop Elina Svitolina.
The Ukrainian, ranked 21 in the world, won 6-1, 7-6 in just 80 minutes. And Jabeur said of being back on Centre Court after her finals heartbreak: ‘I’m not going to lie to you, it was a bit of remembering last year, especially not playing so good.
‘Not serving the way I wanted in the first set especially brought back a bit of sad memories. It wasn’t my day.’
Jabeur’s defeat was soon followed by that of Swiatek. Only four times in the Open Era had Wimbledon’s top-seeded woman lost in the third round, after Ana Ivanovic in 2008, Serena Williams in 2014, Simona Halep in 2018 and Swiatek herself in 2022.
Against Yulia Putintseva, the Kazakh ranked 35 in the world, Swiatek looked en route to another routine win after taking the opening set, but then crumbled to lose 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Court One.
It ended the 21-match winning streak of the five-time major winner, who struck 38 unforced errors to her opponent’s 15 over their near two-hour contest.
Swiatek, who has never won Wimbledon, said she was surprised by how her ‘tank’ suddenly became ‘empty’, adding: ‘I mostly remember my mistakes, what I did wrong. I know what I need to change and I’ll do that. I totally let her come back to the game in the second set. I shouldn’t have done that. I made some mistakes.
‘I feel I underachieved, but it’s tennis, so you have to move on. I’ll have many more chances this year to show my game. I’ll focus on that.’
