Ants anger Wozniacki as second seed loses

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki was angered by flying ants as she crashed out of Wimbledon.

For the second year running the All England Club was hit by an invasion of the insects, with Wozniacki’s match against Ekaterina Makarova on Court One bearing the brunt.

At one stage Wozniacki asked for some repellent spray and was heard telling the umpire, “You want to focus on playing tennis and not eating bugs”, as the ants buzzed around her.

The clearly flustered Dane, who won the Australian Open at the start of the year, eventually lost 6-4 1-6 7-5 to Russian world No 35 Makarova in their second-round match.

She said: “I just asked if they had some repellent, insect repellent. There were a lot of them at one point. All of a sudden it kind of died down.

“I don’t think it had any impact. But it was definitely a first for me here.”

Wozniacki’s exit means half of the top 10 seeds have already been dumped out in the opening two rounds. She follows Sloane Stephens, Elina Svitolina, Caroline Garcia and Petra Kvitova on her way home.

Meanwhile Serena Williams believes her performance level is heading in the right direction after moving through to the third round of Wimbledon.

The seven-time champion made her first playing return to Centre Court since 2016 and eased past Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova 6-1 6-4.

Williams is still working her way back up to full speed following the birth of her daughter last year, but is already looking a threat at the tournament.

Karolina Pliskova is enjoying playing without pressure as she reached the third round for the first time.

The Czech won the battle between former world number ones against Victoria Azarenka on Centre Court.

She was seeded second in 2017 but succumbed amid high expectations and crashed out in the second round that time.

Venus Williams overcame a scare to book her place in the third round.

The 2017 runner-up and five-time former champion came from a set down to beat Alexandra Dulgheru 4-6 6-0 6-1.

Madison Keys beat Luksika Kumkhum as she recorded a 6-4 6-3 victory while Agnieszka Radwanska went out to Lucie Safarova.

Seven-times champion Williams eased into the third round.