Swiatek dumped out of Wimbledon by Eala, Serena withdraws from doubles

Iga Swiatek’s Wimbledon title defence was ended by the Philippines’ Alexandra Eala in a third-round shock on Saturday, while “heartbroken” Serena Williams was forced to withdraw from the doubles tournament.

Kazakh second seed Elena Rybakina also crashed out, leaving the bottom half of the women’s singles draw wide open.

Swiatek slipped to a 7-6 (11/9), 6-2 defeat on Centre Court as 29th seed Eala reached the last 16 of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

It is six-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek’s earliest exit from a major tournament since another third-round defeat, by Yulia Putintseva, at Wimbledon two years ago.

Eala had already made history for the Philippines by becoming the first player from the Southeast Asian nation to reach the third round of a Grand Slam in the Open era.

“I’m really emotional and maybe for someone like Iga who has won so many Slams, or someone like Serena or Venus (Williams), this achievement might seem small,” Eala said.

“But for someone who grew up in the Philippines… I trained with my mother and my grandfather every day after school with ruffled socks and chubby cheeks… so this is everything.”

The left-hander, who had only won one match at a Slam before this week, will face former Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini on Monday.

The 25-year-old Swiatek failed to bounce back from a disappointing last-16 defeat at the French Open, where she is a four-time winner.

She made 44 unforced errors as she struggled to regroup after missing two set points in a dramatic tie-break which decided an 84-minute first set.

“I felt like Alexandra was more brave in important moments,” said Swiatek.

“In the tie-break we both had many chances to close the set earlier, and it didn’t go my way.”

Rybakina out early

Former Wimbledon champion Rybakina also suffered a surprise exit in a 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 defeat against Elise Mertens on Court One.

Rybakina was hoping to follow her Australian Open triumph in January by winning Wimbledon for the second time.

The world number two was unable to emulate her 2022 victory at the All England Club as Belgian 25th seed Mertens produced an upset.

“Definitely not happy,” said the Kazakh, whose hopes of taking the world-number-one ranking from Aryna Sabalenka next week were also dashed.

“I just try to move on. I mean, I lost so many times. I’m sure I’m still going to keep losing. It’s impossible to win everything.”

Mertens will play Czech 21st seed Marie Bouzkova for a quarter-final place.

Last year’s runner-up Amanda Anisimova bowed out, losing 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys.

Williams sisters withdraw

Williams and her sister Venus were due to play in the doubles first round on Saturday, but Serena announced just hours before the match that her knee had not healed enough to play.

The 44-year-old Serena suffered the injury during her first-round singles defeat by Maya Joint on Tuesday.

That was her first singles match since the 2022 US Open after four years in retirement.

Tournament organisers delayed the Williams sisters’ first-round tie until Saturday to give Serena “as much time” as possible to recover.

“I’m heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles,” the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion said on Instagram.

Zverev eases through

Men’s French Open champion Alexander Zverev brushed aside American Marcos Giron 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.

The German second seed has never got past the last 16 in nine previous appearances at Wimbledon.

With title favourites Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic in the opposite side of the draw, he has golden opportunity when he faces Czech 13th seed Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round.

Fifth seed Alex de Minaur booked his place in the fourth round for a third consecutive year with a four-set win over American Zachary Svajda.

Flavio Cobolli, this year’s French Open runner-up, also progressed, beating Karen Khachanov in five sets.