The 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.
Andy Murray’s Wimbledon career ended with a whimper on a dramatic, if cold, wet day at the All England Club when Emma Raducanu pulled the plug on their mixed doubles plans.
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.
Hear her,“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.
(Nation)