Media365
Australian Open champion Madison Keys joined the mass exodus of top seeds at Wimbledon on Friday as Carlos Alcaraz prepared to resume his quest for a third straight title.Keys’ 6-3, 6-3 defeat by Germany’s Laura Siegemund means only world number one Aryna Sabalenka is still alive at the All England Club out of the top six women’s seeds. Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini and Zheng Qinwen had already fallen by the wayside.On the men’s side, half of the top-10 seeds have gone, though defending champion Alcaraz and world number one Jannik Sinner are still standing.US sixth seed Keys had won 13 of her 14 Grand Slam matches this year, but made 31 unforced errors in a lacklustre display on the grass against 37-year-old Siegemund, ranked 104 in the world. Sabalenka will be desperate to buck the trend later on Centre Court when she faces a potential tricky encounter against former US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the third round.
In early third-round action at the All England Club, Japan’s four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka lost in three sets to Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 50th in the world. Osaka has not reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam since she won the Australian Open in 2021 but is still hungry for success.“I feel like while I still have the opportunity to try to do it, I want to, even though I get very upset when I lose, but I think that’s my competitive nature. That’s also the younger sister syndrome,” she said.
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It took US men’s 10th seed Ben Shelton just 71 seconds to complete his second-round match, sealing a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win against Australia’s Rinky Hijikata after the match was halted on Thursday due to failing light.
