World No.1 Iga Swiatek again faltered at Wimbledon, losing in the third round to world No. 35 Yulia Putintseva 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 here on Saturday. Swiatek is a five-time grand slam champion, including four titles on the red clay at the French Open — most recently last month — and one on the hard courts at the US Open.

The All England Club’s grass has always given her trouble though the 23-year-old from Poland did win the junior trophy as a teenager.

Swiatek has only once been as far as the quarter finals at Wimbledon, in 2023. She looked very little like someone who has led the WTA rankings for nearly every week since April 2022 and is assured of remaining there no matter what happens the rest of the way at Wimbledon.

When the 29-year-old Russian-born Kazakhstani was building a 4-0 lead in the last set by grabbing 16 of its first 19 points, she only needed to produce two winners. That’s
because her other 14 points were all gained thanks to either unforced errors (seven) or forced errors (seven) off Swiatek’s racket.

Dream dashed

Ons Jabeur’s long cherished dream to hold aloft the Venus Rosewater Dish was dashed for at least another year following a brutal 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) defeat to Ukrainian 21st seed Elina Svitolina.

A backhand error on match point condemned Jabeur to her earliest defeat at the All England Club in five years, leaving Svitolina to lap up the applause. Elena Rybakina breezed past CarolineWozniacki 6-0, 6-1.

Djokovic on course

Second seed Novak Djokovic overcame a first-set hiccup to stay on course, defeating Alexei Popyrin 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)

Fourth seed Alexander Zverev survived an injury scare and an epic third-set tie-break to beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie and match his best Wimbledon run by reaching the fourth round for the third time on Saturday.

The German produced a sensational display of serving to win 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (17-15), finally ending Norrie’s rugged resistance by converting his sixth match point.

Zverev needed regular treatment after injuring his knee while chasing own a drop shot in the fourth game of the second set and appeared hampered at times.

Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev overcame unseeded German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) in a match that was disrupted by rain.

Ben Shelton, seeded 14th, defeated Denis Shapovalov 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Goodbye Murray

Emma Raducanu withdrew from the mixed doubles on Saturday due to stiffness in her wrist, and that ensured partner Andy Murray will not get another chance to feature on court in his farewell at the grand slam.

“Unfortunately I woke up with some stiffness in my right wrist,” Raducanu said via the Lawn Tennis Association’s social media account. “So therefore I have decided to make the very tough decision to withdraw from the mixed doubles tonight.”

British great Murray, 37, received an emotional farewell after he and brother Jamie were beaten in the first round of the men’s doubles on Thursday.

Bopanna out

Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Edben crashed out in the Wimbledon men’s doubles second-round after a straight-set defeat against Hendrick Jebens and Constantin Frantzen here on Saturday.

The second-seeded Bopanna and Ebden went down to their unseeded German opponents 3-6, 6-7 (4-7) in little over an hour.