Top seed and French Open champion Simona Halep reached the Wimbledon third round on Thursday with a 7-5, 6-0 win over China’s Zheng Saisai but the big shock came later in the day as Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck stunned defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.
Defeat for the third seed means only two of the top eight women’s seeds are left in the draw after two rounds.
Van Uytvanck, the world number 47, who had never previously beaten a top 10 player, will face Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit for a place in the last 16.
World number one Halep, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 2014, will face Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan for a place in the last 16.
The Romanian raced away with the 10 last games to beat the 126-ranked Zheng.
Australian 17th seed Ashleigh Barty reached the third round for the first time with a 6-4, 7-5 win over fellow former Wimbledon junior champion Eugenie Bouchard.
Barty came back from 2-5 down in the second set to see off 2014 runner-up Bouchard who came through qualifying this year.
In what was biggest upset in the women’s draw on day four before the Muguruza result, Slovaika’s Dominika Cibulkova defeated Britain’s best hope Johanna Konta 6-3, 6-4 on center court. Konta was a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year.
(More to follow)
RESULTS:
Simona Halep (ROM x1) bt Zheng Saisai (CHN) 7-5, 6-0
Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) bt Lara Arruabarrena (ESP) 6-3, 6-3
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) bt Johanna Konta (GBR x22) 6-3, 6-4
Elise Mertens (BEL x15) bt Sachia Vickery (USA) 6-1, 6-3
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT x12) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-1, 6-3
Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS) bt Sofia Kenin (USA) 6-4, 6-1
Daria Gavrilova (AUS x26) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS) 6-4, 6-1
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) bt Taylor Townsend (USA) 6-0, 6-4
Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) bt Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP x3) 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
Anett Kontaveit (EST x28) bt Jennifer Brady (USA) 6-2, 7-6 (7/4)
Ashleigh Barty (AUS x17) bt Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) 6-4, 7-5
Daria Kasatkina (RUS x14) bt Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-2, 6-3
Angelique Kerber (GER x11) bt Claire Liu (USA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
Naomi Osaka (JPN x18) bt Katie Boulter (GBR) 6-3, 6-4
Carla Suárez (ESP x27) bt Sara Sorribes (ESP) 6-4, 6-1
Belinda Bencic (SUI) bt Alison Riske (USA) 1-6, 7-6 (12/10), 6-2
Barbora Strycova (CZE x23) bt Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 6-1, 6-4
Katerina Siniakova (CZE) bt Ons Jabeur (TUN) 5-7, 6-4, 9-7
With AFP inputs
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