Defending champion Garbine Muguruza out of Wimbledon

Garbine Muguruza’s title defence at Wimbledon is over.

Belgian world No.47 Alison Van Uytvanck upset the Spaniard in the second round, posting a 5-7 6-2 6-1 victory.

“She played big,” Muguruza conceded after the one hour, 52 minute match.

“She took a lot of risks and it worked for her. I also think that my level was not where I wanted it to be.”

It was the 24-year-old Van Uytvanck’s first top 10 win – leaving Muguruza to make the earliest exit of a ladies’ singles defending champion at the All England Club since Steffi Graf lost in the opening round in 1994.

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“It’s a little bit sad because I wanted to, you know, really go out there. But I think she played great,” Muguruza said. “I wish I could have handled her shots a bit better. It was a little bit tough for me to have an opponent that is having a great day, and the match is slipping out of your hand a little bit. But grass is tough.”

Muguruza’s loss means only two top eight seeds have advanced to the third round – No.1 Simona Halep and No.7 Karolina Pliskova. This is a first for a ladies’ singles draw at Wimbledon in the Open era.

#Wimbledon women's seeds, an update after two rounds:

#1 Halep
#2 Wozniacki – OUT
#3 Muguruza – OUT
#4 Stephens – OUT
#5 Svitolina – OUT
#6 Garcia – OUT
#7 Pliskova
#8 Kvitova – OUT

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 5, 2018

Halep moved into the third round with a 7-5 6-0 win over China’s Zheng Saisai.

No.11 seed Angelique Kerber survived a scare to advance, needing three sets to overcome American qualifier Claire Liu.

Kerber won 3-6 6-2 6-4 against 18-year-old Liu, who won the Wimbledon girls’ singles title last year.

“I didn’t know a lot about her,” Kerber admitted. “It’s always tough to play against someone you don’t know… It was quite a tricky match.”

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Jelena Ostapenko, Elise Mertens and Ash Barty were among the other seeded winners on day four, but Johanna Konta is out.

Dominika Cibulkova defeated the No.22-seeded Brit, a semifinalist last year, 6-3 6-4.

“It was a tough draw today and today I can only be happy with my performance,” Cibulkova said.

“Everything was just coming together for me. My serve was just really working and I saw that Johanna, she had some troubles of reading my serve. The balls are jumping perfect for me.”