London ¨C Two gaping holes were blasted into the women¡¯s draw at Wimbledon on Saturday as defending champion Iga Swiatek was outplayed by Filipino crowd-pleaser Alexandra Eala and second seed Elena Rybakina was sent packing by Belgian Elise Mertens.
Disgruntled Polish No. 3 seed Swiatek lost a titanic first-set battle that lasted almost 90 minutes and had no answer for a fearless Eala after that as she lost 7-6 (11-9), 6-2.
Rybakina, the 2022 champion who doubled her Grand Slam tally this ?year by winning the Australian Open, also fell away badly after a close first set, going down 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 against Mertens, who has reached the last ?16 for ?the fourth time.
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