Belgian netter Alison Van Uytvanck sent defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza home following a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 victory on Thursday at Wimbledon.
The 47th-ranked Van Uytvanck came into the tournament with a less impressive Wimbledon record of 1-4 win-loss. With the agonizing defeat, Muguruza joined Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Sloane Stephens, and Maria Sharapova who was eliminated early in the competition.
Van Uytvanck said that she was confident heading into her match against Muguruza stating that she felt like in a zone in second and third sets. The unheralded Van Uytvanck once made it into the quarterfinal round of the 2015 French Open.
"Inside, I was like dying, especially serving out for the match. I was in the zone and just hitting every ball and it's going my way," Van Uytvanck said.
Great Recovery By Van Uytvanck
It seemed like Muguruza had everything under control when she overcame a 4-2 deficit in the opening set. Nonetheless, Van Uytvanck showed great resolve as the Belgian star tied things up after the second set before unleashing a flurry of groundstrokes thereafter highlighted by a service to advance into the next phase.
Van Uytravanck is set to go head-to-head with 28th-seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the third round. Kontaveit survived a late comeback from Jennifer Brady to come away with a 6-2, 7-6 victory on Thursday.
The two-time major champion winner Muguruza became the sixth player in the magic eight to bow out of the competition. Top-seed Simona Halep and seventh-seed Karolina Pliskova are the only players left in the top eight.
Halep Continues Hot Streak
Halep who is fresh off her first grand slam victory at the French Open flaunted her supremacy as she overcame an opening set scare to beat Saisai Cheng 7-5, 6-0. With the escape win, Halep has now been victorious in her first four sets in this year's Wimbledon tournament. Halep will take on Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei in the next stage.
Meanwhile, upset-seekers Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Vitalia Diatchenko continued their brilliant play in the competition. The Russian Diatchenko who eliminated Sharapova recorded a 6-4, 6-1 victory over American Sofia Kenin while Sasnovich who beat Kvitova scored a 6-4, 6-0 win against Taylor Townsend.
On the other hand, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland came back from a set down to beat Alison Riske 1-6, 7-6 (10) 6-2 while 11th-ranked Angelique Kerber escaped Claire Lue 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. In other action, 18th-seed Naomi Osaka shattered the Wimbledon conquest of Katie Boulter by beating the latter 6-4, 6-3.
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