Last year’s finalist Karolina Pliskova was eliminated in the second round at Wimbledon. The number 6 on the seed list from the Czech Republic surprisingly lost to the British Katie Boulter 6: 3, 6: 7 (4: 7), 4: 6. This means that half of the top 10 women’s field is already out of the race for the All England Club title.
Tournament favorite Iga Swiatek is not one of them. But the 21-year-old Pole also wobbled before she extended her impressive series to 37 wins by beating Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove from the Netherlands 6:4, 4:6, 6:3. Swiatek lost for the last time in February, followed by six tournament wins, including the title at the French Open.
Martina Hingis last had such a long series before the world number one in 1997. The Swiss also won 37 consecutive matches back then. Swiatek still has a long way to go before she reaches the women’s record: In 1984, Martina Navratilova went unbeaten for 74 matches in a row.
Before Pliskova, who had already failed at Boulter in the preparatory tournament in Eastbourne, were former tournament winner Garbine Muguruza (Spain/No. 9), Danielle Collins (USA/No. 7), Emma Raducanu (Great Britain/No. 10) and Anett Kontaveit (Estonia/No.2) lost early; Kontaveit against Jule Niemeier from Dortmund.
The group of top players has also thinned out for men: After the withdrawal of the corona-infected Italian Matteo Berrettini, who had reached the final last year, Casper Ruud (Norway / No. 3), Hubert Hurkacz (Poland / No. 7) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada/No. 6) already out of the tournament.