Top seed Iga Swiatek suffered a shock exit at Wimbledon in the third round, losing to world number 35 Yulia Putintseva.
Putintseva fought back after dropping a set to stun Poland’s Swiatek 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
“I feel really, really great,” Putintseva said. In the round of 16, she will face Latvia’s 13th seed, Jelena Ostapenko.
“I felt that on the court and I was fired up. I just wanted to entertain the crowd more and more with my shots.”
In other action on Saturday, two-time finalist Ons Jabeur of Tunisia lost 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) to Elena Svitolina of Ukraine.
Swiatek continues to struggle on grass
Swiatek has been a dominant force on the WTA Tour, enjoying success on clay and hard courts, but has yet to prove her mettle on the grass courts at Wimbledon.
The five-time major champion is known for her calm tennis, but she made an uncharacteristic 34 unforced errors to Putintseva’s 18.
Cheered on by a rapturous crowd on Court 1, the Kazakh player won on her third match point to end Swiatek’s 21-match winning streak.
Putintseva reached the quarterfinals at the French Open and the U.S. Open but never made it past the second round at Wimbledon.
It continues an excellent grass-court season for the 29-year-old, who won the Birmingham Classic last month.
Grass, on the other hand, has been Swiatek’s least successful surface, with Wimbledon being the only Grand Slam tournament in which she has not advanced beyond the quarterfinals.
The 23-year-old French Open champion will be returning to his favourite clay courts in preparation for this summer’s Olympic tennis at Roland Garros.
Svitolina ends Jabeur’s SW19 ‘dream’
Both Jabeur and Svitolina are popular at the All England Club and their respective stories captivated fans, especially in Britain, last year.
With her home country under attack from Russia, Svitolina reached the semifinals in her first season back on the WTA Tour after giving birth to her daughter, Sky.
Jabeer, who is known as the Minister of Happiness due to his magnetic personality, made it to the finals and went on to go further.
It was her second consecutive appearance in the SW19 final but she lost again, this time to surprise winner Marketa Vondrousova, and was consoled by the Princess of Wales in one of the tournament’s unforgettable scenes.
Jabeur, who planned to have a child after winning last year, said winning Wimbledon was her “dream.”
Her wait continues even after her error-filled performance.
The pace of Svitolina’s comeback unsettled Jabeur, but the focused Ukrainian broke twice to win the first set in 27 minutes.
The second stage was closely fought, with Jabeur failing to convert a set point on Svitolina’s serve at 5-4 and the Tunisian’s confidence dwindling as her opponent dominated the tiebreak.
