Wimbledon: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is
the last top-five women's seed left. Carlos Alcaraz wins
[July 03, 2025]
By HOWARD FENDRICH
LONDON (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka joked that she'd love it if the upsets
at Wimbledon would stop, which makes sense, given that she is ranked
No. 1.
She's also the only one of the five top-seeded women still in the
bracket after No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, last year's runner-up, followed
No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 5 Zheng Qinwen on the
way out.
Sabalenka was two points from dropping the opening set of her
second-round match three times on Wednesday before asserting herself
for a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Marie Bouzkova.
In all, a record-tying 23 seeded players — 10 women, 13 men — were
gone by the end of Day 2, equaling the most at any Grand Slam event
in the past 25 years. Five more women joined them by losing
Wednesday: Paolini, No. 12 Diana Shnaider, No. 21 Beatriz Haddad
Maia, No. 22 Donna Vekic and No. 29 Leylah Fernandez.
“Of course you're going to know the overall picture,” Sabalenka
said, then added with a chuckle: "I hope it’s no upsets anymore in
this tournament, if you know what I mean.”
She is a three-time Grand Slam champion, with all of those titles
coming on hard courts at the Australian Open or U.S. Open. She also
was the runner-up to Gauff at the clay-court French Open last month
— drawing criticism from some over her post-match comments, a flap
she and Gauff set aside via social media videos last week — but
hasn't been past the semifinals on the grass of the All England
Club.
A year ago, Sabalenka was forced to miss Wimbledon because of an
injured shoulder.
On Wednesday, the record-breaking heat of the first two days gave
way to rain that delayed the start of play on smaller courts for
about two hours, along with temperatures that dropped from above 90
degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) to below 68 F (20 C).
At Centre Court, the 48th-ranked Bouzkova went ahead 6-5 in the
first set with the match's initial service break thanks to a
double-fault by Sabalenka. Bouzkova served for that set, and was two
points away from it at 30-15 in that game, again at 30-all, then
once more at deuce.
But on the last such occasion, Sabalenka came through with a
forehand volley winner she punctuated with a yell, followed by a
down-the-line backhand winner that was accompanied by another shout.
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“That was a tough moment," said Sabalenka, who will
face 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu next. “Until that point,
(my) return wasn’t great enough to break her serve. I'm really glad
... everything clicked together and I was able to break her back. I
kind of like felt a little bit better.”
That sent them to a tiebreaker, and from 4-all there, Sabalenka took
the next three points, ending the set with a powerful forehand
return winner off a 67 mph second serve. In the second set, the only
break arrived for a 3-2 lead for Sabalenka, and that was basically
that.
Sabalenka compiled a 41-17 edge in winners while making only 18
unforced errors in a match that lasted a little more than 1 1/2
hours.
What else happened Wednesday at Wimbledon?
Raducanu defeated 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-3,
6-3, and Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who is seeded sixth,
beat Olga Danilovic 6-4, 6-2. In men's action, two-time defending
champion Carlos Alcaraz extended his winning streak to 20 matches
with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 733rd-ranked qualifier Oliver
Tarvet, who plays for the University of San Diego, and No. 5 Taylor
Fritz got past Gabriel Diallo of Canada 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-3
for his second consecutive five-set win. But No. 12 Frances Tiafoe
joined the parade of seeds exiting, eliminated by 2022 Wimbledon
semifinalist Cam Norrie 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
Who plays Thursday at the All England Club?
Novak Djokovic, who has won seven of his 24 major championships at
Wimbledon, will lead off the Centre Court schedule on Day 4 against
Britain's Dan Evans at 1:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. ET), followed
by Iga Swiatek vs. Caty McNally, and No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs.
Aleksandar Vukic.
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