But Saturday’s indoor match on Court No. 1 seemed like Fourth of July fireworks above the All England Club’s baton. So explosive was the shootout between top-ranked Iga Sviatek and unseeded Yulia Putintseva. Kazakhstan. The crowd responded by smelling the gunpowder and raising their voices to deafening levels as she became the first woman to win Sviatek since April 20, and booed Putinteva.
Putintseva defeated the top seed 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to beat Sviatek’s 21-match streak to reach the world No. 1 in the third round of a Grand Slam for the second time. This time of year.
She tossed her racquet aside and held her arms out, palms up, spinning in disbelief as the crowd showered her with applause. The first thing she did out of her court interview was to ask to hear the question again.
“I didn’t hear you, sorry,” Putinteva said with a smile.
Her win means only three of the top 10 seeds remain in the women’s draw at the end of Saturday’s rainy day: No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 4 Elena Rybakina and No. 7 Jasmine Paolini.
Just before Putinteva’s win, 10th seed and two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jaber lost to 21st seed Elina Svitolina 6-1, 7-6(7-4). She defeated wild card and one-time Grand Slam champion Caroline Wozniacki 6-0, 6-1.
In many ways, Putintseva’s path to Saturday’s upset victory was the reverse of her opponent.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek was the favorite to lift her first title after claiming her fourth French Open crown last month, but her run was not expected to be easy.
The 23-year-old is far and away the most talented clay court player and all-round champion in tennis, holding 22 titles across all three platforms. But success at Wimbledon eluded her; It is the only Grand Slam in which she has not made it past the quarterfinals.
This time, she stuck to her routine and shied away from any grass court tuning competition, opting instead to travel to London for a short training block to get her body in tune with playing on grass.
Putintseva, on the other hand, went into Saturday’s meeting on a seven-match winning streak after winning the warm-up tournament in Birmingham, England. It was the longest winning streak of her career before she reached victory number 8.
In the year The 29-year-old, who was born in Moscow before deciding to represent Kazakhstan in 2012, has had little success with Sviatek at Grand Slams. She never got past the second round at Wimbledon.
But she has guts and plays tennis with confidence. Putintseva had never won a set in their previous four meetings, so she was free to be fearless against Switek.
“I was right. [thinking], ‘I can do it. I have to believe one hundred percent. I have nothing to lose, just go for it,” Putinteva said. “Also, my coach told me, ‘Whatever shot you make, believe it 100 percent and just follow through.'”
Putintseva’s efficiency meets Sviatek’s burnout.
Swiatek faded quickly after the first routine and surprised herself on the court. Putintseva was strong and particularly punishing with powerful groundstrokes, but she wasn’t whipping Swiatek around the court as much as she was holding firm in the face of her opponent’s mistakes.
Falling behind 4-0 in the third set, Swiatek made 14 unforced errors while seeming overwhelmed by her game at times. After one particularly bad point, she covered her mouth in disbelief.
“The tank of really pushing myself to the limit was suddenly, just empty. I was surprised,” Swiatek said before offering a quick analysis. But after Roland Garros I know what I did wrong. I haven’t really rested. I will not make this mistake again.”
Swiatek says her weaknesses are all mental, a tough event at Roland Garros, where she became the third woman to win three straight French Open titles since the start of the Open era in 1968. She felt she hadn’t quite returned and said she might take a break next year instead of going right back to work.
“I feel like I’m on the grass, I need a little more energy than that to be patient and accept some mistakes,” Swiatek said. “… For me, it’s not easy to go from this type of tennis to a place where you’re struggling a little bit if I feel like I’m playing the best tennis of my life.
Swiatek can at least take solace in knowing she’ll be back on red clay for the Paris Olympics before she begins her North American hard court swing. She will retain her No. 1 ranking after Wimbledon despite the loss, while Putintseva will play.
Putintseva will face 2017 French Open champion and 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round as she reaches that stage for the first time – and with much fanfare – at a quiet Wimbledon.