Wimbledon upset bug adds No. 3 Svitolina to pile

Tennis

WIMBLEDON, England — No. 3-seeded Elina Svitolina became the latest upset victim in the Wimbledon women’s draw when she lost in the second round Thursday to Magda Linette of Poland, who earned the biggest victory of her career, 6-3, 6-4.

Eight of the top 11 players in the WTA rankings are out of the tournament due to defeat, withdrawal or injury.

Linette had 28 winners to just eight for Svitolina, a semifinalist at Wimbledon two years ago. Linette, ranked 44th, had never before beaten a top-15 player in a completed match.

Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty avoided the upset bug, however, overcoming nine double-faults and a bad line call on match point to move into the third round with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Anna Blinkova.

Barty’s forehand was called out on her second match point but a replay showed it clipped the line. The point was replayed and Barty clinched the win when Blinkova hit a shot long.

She had other problems, too, especially with her serve. Aside from the slew of double-faults, Barty was broken three times in the match and had 33 unforced errors. But she also hit 33 winners, compared to 12 for Blinkova.

French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova extended her winning streak to 14 matches by beating Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-4. Krejcikova converted four of her five break points and finished with twice as many winners — 24 to 12.

Krejcikova seeks to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2015 to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon back to back. A former Wimbledon doubles champion, she is making her tournament debut in the singles draw.

American Shelby Rogers matched her best Wimbledon result by reaching the third round with a 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 15 Maria Sakkari.

Sakkari became the first Greek woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal when she made the last four at Roland Garros, but has never been past the third round at Wimbledon

No. 16 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova swept past Kristyna Pliskova 6-3, 6-3. No. 19 Karolina Muchova and No. 30 Paula Badosa also advanced.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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