The defending women’s champion, Garbiñe Muguruza, joined the exodus of seeds at Wimbledon on Thursday night as she was battered in the second round by Alison Van Uytvanck, the world No 47 from Belgium. Van Utyvanck had lost in the first round in each of her four previous visits but was almost unplayable at times as she knocked out the defending champion and No 3 seed 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.
By the end, Muguruza had her head in her hands, unable to comprehend what was coming from the other side of the net. After the exits of Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Maria Sharapova and Sloane Stephens, this was surely the biggest surprise of them all. With only the No 1 Simona Halep and No 7 Karolina Pliskova remaining from the top eight, it is the first time at Wimbledon in the Open era that only two of the top eight seeds have made it through to the third round.
“I played a very good match, so really happy to be through to the third round,” Van Uytvanck said. “I stepped it up in sets two and three. Inside I was like dying, especially serving out for the match. I was in the zone and just hitting every ball and it’s going my way.”
When she recovered from 4-2 down to win the first set and then broke in the opening game of the second, it looked like Muguruza had dodged a bullet. But Van Uytvanck continued to slap huge groundstrokes and eventually, they made their mark.
After taking the second set to level the match, Van Uytvanck broke serve in a nine-minute fourth game. Muguruza’s spirit was broken, and two games later, the match was over, Van Uytvanck moving through to a meeting with No 28 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.
“I think she played big today,” said Muguruza. “She took a lot of risk, and it worked for her. I also think that my level today was not where I wanted it to be. It is a little bit sad because I wanted to really go out there. But I think she played great.”
Halep, meanwhile, showed some of the confidence that comes with being a freshly-crowned grand slam champion. The world No 1 looked in trouble when she trailed Saisai Zheng of China 5-3 in the first set but reeled off 10 straight games to claim a 7-5, 6-0 victory and a place in the third round.
Playing with the freedom earned by finally getting that first slam title under her belt at Roland Garros last month, Halep knows she will need to play better as she goes on but she is warming to her task. “It would be a huge thing, of course, to win Wimbledon,” said Halep, who plays the tricky Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei next. “But in this moment, I’m really far (away) to do that. You need a better game, in my opinion, to win on grass. You have to be more aggressive, to go to the net more. I’m trying just to adjust myself on this surface as much as possible.
Katie Boulter has come a long way in 2018, and a long way even in the past month. Her Wimbledon adventure came to an end on Thursday when she was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by No 18 seed Naomi Osaka in the second round, but on the evidence of this week, she should be a fixture in grand slam events in the future after giving one of the rising stars of the women’s game a real fight.
“I actually felt really comfortable out there,” said the 21-year-old Boulter, who received a wildcard into the main draw. “She hits the ball harder than me, she hits it more consistently [so] it’s something I need to get used to. [But] I feel like even within a space of two weeks, I’ve changed. I’ve gotten better at it. As the scoreline showed today, it was much better than Birmingham. It’s a really good learning experience for me.”
The 20-year-0ld Osaka, meanwhile, is into the third round of a slam for the eighth time.
Two of the giantkillers from the first round, Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus and Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia, avoided a letdown.
Sasnovich, who ousted the two-time champion Petra Kvitova, beat American Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-0, while Diatchenko, who upset Maria Sharapova, followed up with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over another American, Sofia Kenin.
Belinda Bencic continued her comeback from injury, the Swiss recovering to beat Alison Riskeof the US 1-6, 7-6 (10), 6-2, saving four match points in the second-set tie-break
