No. 1 Halep latest to bow out
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 bigmoment 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 36, 64, 75 by Hsieh Suwei 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 reached the round of 16. Only one of the top 10 seeds will be in action in Week 2: No. 7 Karolina Pliskova. The only past champion at the grasscourt tournament left is Serena Williams. Only two other women among the 16 left even own a Grand Slam singles title: Angelique Kerber has two, Jelena Ostapenko one.
“I mean, I’m not surprised anymore,” said 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko, a 60, 64 winner against Vitalia Diatchenko, who eliminated fivetime 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 Saturday with a 76 (2), 46, 75, 63, 60 loss to Ernests Gulbis, a Latvian ranked 138th who is the first male qualifier since 2012 to reach Wimbledon’s fourth round.
In this case, though, Gulbis already has been a major semifinalist — he made it that far at the 2014 French Open, but his ranking slid because of a series of injuries — while the upandcoming, 21yearold Zverev has yet to have that sort of breakthrough.
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 cellphones as England beat Sweden 20 in the World Cup quarterfinals in Russia — the All England Club did not put that other sport on any of the video screens — and used umbrellas, fans and lotion to deal with 90degree heat.
Halep essentially wilted after leading 52 in the third set. She wouldn’t win another game.
“I tried,” Hsieh said later, “to hang in there.”
Halep was a point from victory while ahead 54 as Hsieh served at 3040. But the 48thranked Hsieh got out of that predicament with a backhand winner.
Halep held two break points in the last game, but failed to convert either.
Asked when she thought she could win the match, Hsieh responded, “I don’t feel I can,” then leaned forward and laughed heartily. She did a lot of that during her news conference, making jokes and cracking herself up.