Wimbledon: Defending champion Kerber beaten

Defending champion Angelique Kerber was spectacularly dumped out of Wimbledon but her opponent in last year’s final, Serena Williams, fought back to advance to the third round.

Another four women’s top seeds – world No.1 Ash Barty, Kiki Bertens, Petra Kvitova and Sloane Stephens – cruised into the third round at the All England Club on Thursday.

But Kerber’s opponent Lauren Davis stole the show with her remarkable 2-6 6-2 6-1 victory over the three-times Grand Slam champion.

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German fifth seed Kerber raced through the first set before the match turned wildly on its head, and the American, who needed a lucky-loser spot to play in the tournament, lost just three further games.

After taking the second set, 25-year-old Davis turned the screws on Court Two and wrapped up victory in an hour and 55 minutes when Kerber netted.

“I haven’t felt this good in months!”@serenawilliams is bringing her A-game to #Wimbledon on #IndependenceDay pic.twitter.com/eYtNekjErD

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 4, 2019

“Of course I’m disappointed,” Kerber said.

“Of course, it’s not the way I would like to finish here or to play here. But you have sometimes days like that. You have to accept it. You have to learn from it, trying to forget this as soon as possible.”

Davis was a lucky loser having lost in qualifying before getting a late call-up to the main draw.

“It’s definitely been incredible,” said the American.

“I was super disappointed having lost last round of qualies. I found out less than two hours later that I got into main. I was ecstatic about that. It’s honestly a dream being here. I played qualies last year, so I wasn’t able to come here. But, yeah, it feels amazing.”

Williams also looked to be in trouble after dropping the opening set against 18-year-old Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan, but the 23-times grand slam champion rallied to a 2-6 6-2 6-4 victory.

“I play best when I’m down sometimes,” Williams said. “I’m just a fighter and never give up.”

Barty claimed a commanding 6-1 6-3 victory over Belgium’s Alison van Uytvanck to extend her unbeaten run to 14 matches.

The 23-year-old, who is aiming to complete consecutive grand slam wins after winning the French Open, stormed through the match in 54 minutes.

“It’s been an incredible journey, it really has,” Barty said. “It’s been important for us to celebrate the little things.”

Barty will meet Britain’s Harriet Dart next after she conquered Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-1.

Fourth seed Bertens came back from a set down and saved a match point to beat American Taylor Townsend 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 to book her place in the third round.

Sixth seed Petra Kvitova beat France’s Kristina Mladenovic 7-5 6-2 to move into the third round despite a couple of hiccups in the first set.

The Czech, coming back to the tour after recovering from an arm injury, saved three set points in the opening set before stepping up her game to wrap up the second set in 31 minutes.

American Sloane Stephens also claimed a dominant second round win as the former US Open champion triumphed 6-0 6-2 against China’s Wang Yafan.

The ninth seed’s next opponent will be British 19th seed Johanna Konta after she dismissed Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-3 6-4.