World No. 1 Iga Świątek, Coco Gauff Upset In 3rd Round At Wimbledon, Leaving Women’s Field Wide Open

World No. 1 Iga Świątek and American Coco Gauff met in the finals of Roland Garros last month and entered Wimbledon as two of the top three favorites.

Now both are suddenly out of the draw, leaving the women’s field wide open.

“It’s open opportunity now on this side of the draw,” ESPN’s Mary Jo Fernandez said on air.

Świątek entered her third-round match against Alize Cornet of France on a 37-match winning streak and hadn’t lost since Feb. 16 against Jelena Ostapenko in Dubai.

The 21-year-old Polish star had been dominant and was the heavy favorite to win her second Grand Slam title of 2022 after capturing the French Open last month.

But her winning streak came to an end against Cornet, 6-4, 6-2, in 1 hour, 33 minutes on Centre Court.

Świątek, who did not play a warm-up tournament on grass coming into the fortnight, struggled with her serve as Cornet converted 5-of-6 break chances.

The No. 37-ranked Cornet played solid and steady, winning 68% of points on her second serve. She earned the win exactly eight years to the day after she upset Serena Williams in the third round in 2014.

“I have no words right now, it reminds me of the time I beat Serena on the same court eight years ago exactly,” said Cornet, 32. “I think this court is a lucky charm for me. But first of all I want to say I’m a huge fan of Iga. I mean, she is just so talented and such an amazing player and such a nice ambassador of women’s tennis so I’m just very flattered that I beat her today.”

Cornet reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open in January and is continuing her tremendous year into the summer.

“I knew I could do it,” she said. “Somehow I had this belief even though she had 37 wins in a row…I was like, if there’s a moment you can beat her, it’s now on grass. She feels a little less comfortable than on those other surfaces so I was just believing very hard, I was very focused and I have the best team by my side and the best crowd.

“I guess I like the upsets and it’s a really nice feeling right now. I need to process because…I’m not completely realizing what’s happening right now.”

For Swiatek, her winning streak ended at 37 matches, tied with Martina Hingis for the longest since 1990. The all-time winning streak is held by Martina Navratilova, who had 74 successive victories in 1984.

This year, she has won six titles, won 16 sets at 6-0 and gone 7-0 vs. Top 10 opponents.

Her loss also marked the first defeat in 2022 for the world No. 1 because Ash Barty had been undefeated at No. 1 before retiring in March.

Gauff, who had lost to Swiatek in the Roland Garros final and was the No. 11 seed at Wimbledon, also lost Saturday to fellow American Amanda Anisimova, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1.

“It’s my first time playing on Centre Court. It’s the most special day, I think, of my career,” Anisimova said in her on-court interview. “It’s just a huge privilege to play on this court … playing Coco. She’s an amazing player and just got to the finals of a Grand Slam. Before the match, I was just trying to prepare myself to soak in this moment whether I win or lose. Winning today is just so special.

“I think the worst thing for a tennis player is to lose 7-6 in the first set … It’s really important to just bounce back and give everything I have. It was very easy to do, especially on this court, even though it was extremely exhausting.”

Anisimova will next face France’s Harmony Tan, who upset Serena in the first round and whose career-defining tournament continued with a 6-1, 6-1 rout of Great Britain’s Katie Boulter in Round 3. The pair have, in fact, played at a Grand Slam before; in her semifinal run at Roland Garros three years ago, Anisimova was a 6-3, 6-1 victor over Tan in the first round.

No. 3 seed Ons Jabeur is now the highest remaining favorite in the draw with 2019 champion Simona Halep the second favorite after two-time champion Petra Kvitova also lost to No. 4 Paula Badosa in straight sets.