Sabalenka Seeks Consistency at Wimbledon After Surprising Eliminations
The world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, joked that she hoped the unexpected results would cease at Wimbledon, an understandable wish given her ranking position. Sabalenka is the only one of the top five seeds still remaining in the tournament, after the eliminations of Jasmine Paolini, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Qinwen Zheng. Sabalenka had to work hard in her second-round match, saving two set points in the first set, before securing a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Marie Bouzkova. In total, a record 23 seeded players (10 women and 13 men) had already been eliminated by the end of the second day, matching the highest number in a Grand Slam event in the last 25 years. Five other women were added to this list on Wednesday: Paolini, Diana Shnaider, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Donna Vekic, and Leylah Fernandez.In the Open era, only one Grand Slam tournament has seen a maximum of one player among the top five seeds advance to the third round: Wimbledon 2018. Sabalenka, a three-time Grand Slam champion, has won all her titles on hard courts, at the Australian Open and the US Open. She was also a finalist at Roland Garros last month, but has never made it past the semi-finals on the grass at the All England Club. Last year, Sabalenka was forced to miss Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury. On Wednesday, the record heat of the first two days gave way to rain, which delayed the start of the game on the smaller courts for about two hours, along with temperatures that dropped from over 90 degrees Fahrenheit to under 68 F.“Of course one realizes the general situation,” Sabalenka commented, adding with a smile: “I hope there are no more surprises in this tournament, if you understand me.”
Aryna Sabalenka
On the center court, Bouzkova, ranked 48th, went ahead 6-5 in the first set, achieving the first break of the match thanks to a double fault by Sabalenka. Bouzkova served for the set and was two points away from winning it on several occasions. However, Sabalenka reacted with a winning forehand volley, followed by a parallel backhand that gave her the tie.
“It was a tough moment,” said Sabalenka, who will face Emma Raducanu in the next round. “Until that moment, my return wasn’t good enough to break her serve. I’m glad everything clicked and I was able to break her serve. I felt a little better.” This led to a tiebreaker, where Sabalenka took the last three points after a 4-4, finishing the set with a powerful forehand return after a second serve of 67 mph. In the second set, the only break gave Sabalenka a 3-2 lead, and that was enough. Sabalenka achieved a 41-17 advantage in winners, committing only 18 unforced errors in a match that lasted just over an hour and a half. Sabalenka has accumulated 32 consecutive victories in the first week of Grand Slam tournaments, before the round of 16, since the 2022 US Open. She has won 64 of the 67 sets she has played in those matches. Furthermore, she has reached the third round or a higher round in the last 18 Grand Slam tournaments she has played; the only woman with a longer active streak is Iga Swiatek, who has achieved this in every Grand Slam since the beginning of 2020. In other women’s singles results from Wednesday, Naomi Osaka advanced to the third round of Wimbledon for the first time since 2018, with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Katerina Siniakova, who had eliminated Zheng in the first round. Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, has never reached the second week in a Grand Slam tournament that is not on a hard court in her career. Her victory on Wednesday coincided with her daughter Shai’s second birthday. “I definitely thought about Shai’s birthday today while playing my match. I was really trying to focus,” Osaka said. “I woke up this morning and stayed in bed with her, and I felt very grateful to, I guess, be living the life that I’m living because I get to travel with her. She’s so young, but she’s already been to so many different places. She really is a blessing to me.”
