Wozniacki out as top seeds continue to tumble – highlights & report
Wimbledon 2018 on the BBC |
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Venue: All England Club, Wimbledon Dates: 2-15 July |
Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button, Connected TVs and the BBC Sport website and app; Live Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra commentary; Text commentary online. |
Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki became the biggest name to exit the Wimbledon women’s singles as she lost in the second round.
The 27-year-old, seeded second, was beaten 6-4 1-6 7-5 by Russian world number 35 Ekaterina Makarova.
The Dane’s defeat means five of the top eight women’s seeds have exited the competition before the third round.
Wozniacki, who won at Eastbourne last week, has never been past the fourth round in 12 visits to SW19.
She was plagued by flying ants during the match on Court One and needed insect repellent to get rid of them.
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“I did everything I could. It’s frustrating because I feel like I could have gone and done something really great here,” Wozniacki said.
“I can’t even be mad at myself because I played up to the level that I can.
“She played above her level and really raised it and got a little lucky.
“I would be very surprised if you saw her go far. But with someone playing like this today, I really did what I could. It just wasn’t enough.”
Makarova, who won last year’s women’s doubles title with compatriot Elena Vesnina, led 5-1 in the deciding set and had four match points on her own serve at 5-3.
Wozniacki saved all four to level it up at 5-5, but Makarova, 30, regrouped superbly, holding serve to make it 6-5 and put the pressure back her on her opponent.
This time there was no response from Wozniacki as Makarova set up a meeting with Czech player Lucie Safarova.
“I am so happy I got calm at 5-5 and did my work again,” said Makarova, who reached the quarter-finals in 2014.
“When it was 5-5 I started thinking about those match points on my serve at 40-0, but I told myself, ‘No, you are not going to lose this match’. I forgot it and started over.”
Remaining women’s top eight seeds | Eliminated women’s top eight seeds |
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1. Simona Halep (Rou) | 2. Caroline Wozniacki (Den) |
3. Garbine Muguruza (Sp) | 4. Sloane Stephens (US) |
7. Karolina Pliskova (Cze) | 5. Elina Svitolina (Ukr) |
6. Caroline Garcia (Fra) | |
8. Petra Kvitova (Cze) |