Ashleigh Barty enter into the third round of Wimbledon

London: Australia's world number one Ashleigh Barty scrapped her way into the third round of Wimbledon on Thursday beating plucky Russian opponent Anna Blinkova 6-4, 6-3 in 90 minutes.

Barty was not at her best serving several double faults and making unforced errors regularly against a 22-year-old opponent who was far from over-awed by being on Centre Court or Barty’s top-ranked status.

Barty, though, having battled right arm and left hip injuries this year eventually prevailed, breaking Blinkova’s serve to take the match.

The Australian, who has never got further than the fourth round at Wimbledon, plays Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.

“She pushed me incredibly hard,” said Barty. “A few points here and there it could have been a different story.”

No 3-seeded Elina Svitolina became the latest upset victim in the women’s draw when she lost in the second round to Magda Linette of Poland, who earned the biggest victory of her career, 6-3, 6-4.

Eight of the top 11 players in the WTA rankings are out of the tournament due to defeat, withdrawal or injury.

Linette had 28 winners to just eight for Svitolina, a semifinalist at Wimbledon two years ago. Linette, ranked 44th, had never before beaten a



top-15 player in a completed match.

French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova extended her winning streak to 14 matches by beating Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-4.

Krejcikova seeks to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2015 to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon back to back. A former Wimbledon doubles champion, Krejcikova is making her tournament debut in the singles draw.

In men’s play, fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev hit 13 aces, lost only 12 points on his serve and advanced to the third round by beating Tennys Sandgren 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. Zverev was the US Open runner-up in 2020 and a semifinalist at last month’s French Open, but he has never been past the round of 16 at Wimbledon.

American Shelby Rogers matched her best Wimbledon result by reaching the third round when she beat No 15 Maria Sakkari 7-5, 6-4.

No 16 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova swept past Kristyna Pliskova 6-3, 6-3. No 19 Karolina Muchova and No 30 Paula Badosa also advanced.

On Wednesday night, Ons Jabeur the first Arabic woman to win a WTA tournament reached the third round of Wimbledon for the first time beating five time champion Venus Williams 7-5, 6-0.

But Venus will play with Nick Kyrgios in the mixed doubles.