Aryna Sabalenka steers clear of upsets at Wimbledon

LONDON — Aryna Sabalenka joked that she'd love it if the upsets at Wimbledon would stop, which makes sense, given that she is ranked No. 1. She's also the only one of the five top-seeded women still in the bracket after No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, last year's runner-up, followed No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 5 Zheng Qinwen on the way out. Sabalenka was two points from dropping the opening set of her second-round match three times on Wednesday before asserting herself for a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Marie Bouzkova. In all, a record-tying 23 seeded players — 10 women, 13 men — were gone by the end of Day 2, equaling the most at any Grand Slam event in the past 25 years. Five more women joined them by losing Wednesday: Paolini, No. 12 Diana Shnaider, No. 21 Beatriz Haddad Maia, No. 22 Donna Vekic and No. 29 Leylah Fernandez. "Of course you're going to know the overall picture," Sabalenka said, then added with a chuckle: "I hope it's no upsets anymore in this tournament, if you know what I mean." She is a three-time Grand Slam champion, with all of those titles coming on hard courts at the Australian Open or U.S. Open. She also was the runner-up to Gauff at the clay-court French Open last month — drawing criticism from some over her post-match comments, a flap she and Gauff set aside via social media videos last week — but hasn't been past the semifinals on the grass of the All England Club. A year ago, Sabalenka was forced to miss Wimbledon because of an injured shoulder. On Wednesday, the record-breaking heat of the first two days gave way to rain that delayed the start of play on smaller courts for about two hours, along with temperatures that dropped from above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) to below 68 F (20 C). At Centre Court, the 48th-ranked Bouzkova went ahead 6-5 in the first set with the match's initial service break thanks to a double-fault by Sabalenka. Bouzkova served for that set, and was two points away from it at 30-15 in that game, again at 30-all, then once more at deuce. But on the last such occasion, Sabalenka came through with a forehand volley winner she punctuated with a yell, followed by a down-the-line backhand winner that was accompanied by another shout. "That was a tough moment," said Sabalenka, who will face 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu next. "Until that point, (my) return wasn't great enough to break her serve. I'm really glad ... everything clicked together and I was able to break her back. I kind of like felt a little bit better." That sent them to a tiebreaker, and from 4-all there, Sabalenka took the next three points, ending the set with a powerful forehand return winner off a 67 mph second serve. In the second set, the only break arrived for a 3-2 lead for Sabalenka, and that was basically that. Sabalenka compiled a 41-17 edge in winners while making only 18 unforced errors in a match that lasted a little more than 1.5 hours. What else happened Wednesday at Wimbledon? Raducanu defeated 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-3, and Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who is seeded sixth, beat Olga Danilovic 6-4, 6-2. In men's action, two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz extended his winning streak to 20 matches with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 733rd-ranked qualifier Ollie Tarvet, who plays for the University of San Diego. But No. 12 Frances Tiafoe joined the parade of seeds exiting, eliminated by 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Cam Norrie 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. Who plays Thursday at the All England Club? Novak Djokovic, who has won seven of his 24 major championships at Wimbledon, will lead off the Centre Court schedule on Day 4 against Britain's Dan Evans at 1:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. ET), followed by Iga Swiatek vs. Caty McNally, and No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs. Aleksandar Vukic.