Wimbledon 2024: Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur's exits further opens up women's draw heading into 2nd week
The women's singles draw at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships continues to open up further and further with each passing round. At the end of the third-round contests, top seed Iga Swiatek and two-time runner-up Ons Jabeur were ousted from the upper half of the draw.
After her victorious French Open campaign, Iga Swiatek skipped the grass-court tournaments in the run-up to Wimbledon. The Pole, in search of her maiden semifinal at the grass Slam, defeated former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-4 and Petra Martic 6-4, 6-3 in her first two matches. The 23-year-old looked on her way to another comfortable win against Yulia Putintseva after taking the first set.
But the Kazakh No. 2 did not get bogged down and displayed her fighting spirit and court craft to bamboozle Swiatek. Putintseva broke Swiatek a combined four times over the course of the next two sets to register her second win over a World No. 1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
On the same day, another title contender for Wimbledon Championships 2024, Ons Jabeur, also endured an untimely exit from the tournament. The Tunisian had finished runners-up at SW19 in 2022 and 2023 and got off the ground quickly in 2024. She was seeded No. 10 and faced little trouble while outperforming Moyuka Uchijima 6-3, 6-1, and American qualifier Robin Montgomery 6-1, 7-5. This set up a clash against last year's semifinalist and No. 21 Elina Svitolina in the third round.
The Ukrainian rocketed past her Tunisian opponent in the first set. Jabeur looked out of sorts and committed too many unforced errors, handing Svitolina the tempo of play. The second set was much closer as both women held their serves to force a tiebreaker. Svitolina held her composure and completed a remarkable win 6-1, 7-6 (4).
The defeat of these two women in the first week of the Wimbledon Championships has given other lower-ranked players a chance to make a deep run at the tournament. The women's singles draw opened up even before the first round began due to the withdrawal of No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka and former semifinalist Victoria Azarenka.
Then, defending champion and sixth seed Marketa Vondrousova was unceremoniously defeated in the first round. Other top-10 seeds like Jessica Pegula (No. 5), Zheng Qinwen (No. 8), and Maria Sakkari (No. 9) did not make it past the second round. This has created a situation where the Wimbledon Championships will have at least four first-time quarterfinalists.
Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, & Jasmine Paolini are the top 10 seeds left at Wimbledon after 3R
While there were many upsets in the first week of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, the tournament still has a strong bench of title contenders, including three top-10 players. Second seed Coco Gauff took full advantage of her relatively easy draw and dispatched Caroline Dolehide, Anca Todoni, and Sonay Kartal. She will now face No. 19 seed Emma Navarro in the fourth round.
Fourth seed and 2022 champion Elena Rybakina is also going strong at SW19 this year and defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse, Laura Siegemund, and Caroline Wozniacki. The Kazakh star will now face No. 17 seed Anna Kalinskaya. The third top 10 player still active at the grass Slam is seventh seed Jasmine Paolini.
The Italian did not drop a set while beating Sara Sorribes Tormo, Greet Minnen, and Bianca Andreescu. She will now face No. 12 seed and last year's quarterfinalist Madison Keys in the fourth round. There are other experienced campaigners who will play in the second week at the Wimbledon Championships. This list includes No. 13 seed Jelena Ostapenko, No. 21 seed Elina Svitolina, No. 31 seed Barbora Krejcikova, Yulia Putintseva, and Emma Raducanu.