Top-seeded Halep ousted at Wimbledon
LONDON — Simona Halep was ready for a vacation. It’s going to start a week earlier than she wanted after she gave away a big lead, wasted a match point and lost at Wimbledon, joining the procession of top women on the way out.
Ranked and seeded No. 1, fresh off her winning first Grand Slam title at the French Open, so sure she had figured out how to overcome the big-moment anxiety that was so problematic for so long, Halep chastised herself as “unprofessional” after bowing out in the third round at the All England Club on Saturday, dropping the last five games while being beaten 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 by Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan.
“I just was too negative to myself, talking too much. I think because I was tired, because I’m tired, I couldn’t stay focused for every ball,” Halep said. “Mentally, I was tired. Also physically, I feel tired. My muscles are gone.”
For the first time in Wimbledon history, none of the top five women’s seeds Simona Halep dropped the final five games in losing 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan.
reached the round of 16.
“I mean, I’m not surprised anymore,” said 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko, a 6-0, 6-4 winner against Vitalia Diatchenko, who eliminated five-time major
champion Maria Sharapova in the first round. “Because every day, something strange is happening in the draw.”
Far less so in the men’s bracket, although No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev did depart with a 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 loss to Ernests Gulbis, a Latvian ranked 138th who is the first male qualifier since 2012 to reach Wimbledon’s fourth round.
Otherwise, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro all won on a day the English spectators were preoccupied with two things: soccer and the sun. They followed along on cell phones as England beat Sweden 2-0 in the World Cup quarterfinals in Russia and used umbrellas, fans and lotion to deal with heat that reached 90 degrees.
Halep essentially wilted after leading 5-2 in the third set. She wouldn’t win another game.
Halep was a point from victory while ahead 5-4 as Hsieh served at 30-40. But the 48th-ranked Hsieh got out of that predicament with a backhand winner.
Halep held two break points in the last game, but failed to convert either.
Djokovic shrugged off a bad call by the chair umpire that cost him a break in his win over home favorite Kyle Edmund.
He was less forgiving when it came to the way he was treated by the crowd.
“There is a certain unwritten borderline where you feel that it’s a bit too much,” Djokovic said about being booed at times by the partisan crowd on Centre Court. “I didn’t deserve to be treated the way I was treated by certain individuals.”
Neither the crowd nor a big mistake by the umpire could unglue Djokovic, though, as the three-time champion won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the round of 16.
He was robbed of a break at 3-3, 15-40 in the fourth set when the ball bounced twice before Edmund managed to return it over the net. Djokovic complained to the chair umpire but the call stood — even though TV replays also showed Edmund’s shot had actually landed wide.
That wasn’t the only point of contention in the match. Djokovic got into a bit of a two-sided argument with the crowd after he was booed following a time violation in the third set. He responded by blowing kisses into the stands.