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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Barty battles into third round

Struggling Svitolina joins exodus of women's seeds
Germany's Alexander Zverev celebrates after winning his second-round match against Tennys Sandgren of the US. -- Reuters
Germany's Alexander Zverev celebrates after winning his second-round match against Tennys Sandgren of the US. -- Reuters
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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."


Zverev eases past Sandgren


Fourth seed Alexander Zverev moved smoothly into the third round at Wimbledon with a 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 win over American Tennys Sandgren.


The clean-hitting German was always in command of an entertaining tussle on Court Two once he broke Sandgren's serve at 5-5 in the first set.


From then on it was one-way traffic as Zverev reached the third round for the fourth time.


Sandgren entertained the crowd with some good-natured banter and could only chuckle when he made a complete mess of a smash to go down a double break in the second set.


Zverev faced only one break point in the match and has yet to drop a set. He will face another American in the next round -- either 31st seed Taylor ritz or Steve Johnson.


SVITOLINA EXITS


Ukraine's Elina Svitolina admitted she was struggling mentally with the demands of trying to win her first Grand Slam title as she joined the exodus of top seeds at Wimbledon on Thursday.


The world number five, seeded three, was beaten 6-3, 6-4 in the second round by Poland's Magda Linette, meaning that six of the top 10 seeds have already departed in the women's draw.


Sofia Kenin (4) and Bianca Andreescu (5) were knocked out on Wednesday, while sixth seed Serena Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, had to retire from her first-round match after slipping and injuring her leg on Tuesday.


Ninth seed Belinda Bencic and 10th seed Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, lost in round one.


Svitolina is regularly amongst the top seeds at Slams but the Ukrainian has yet to make the breakthrough many predicted.


In 34 Grand Slam appearances, the 26-year-old has managed to reach two semifinals, at Wimbledon in 2019 and the US Open a few weeks later, but has only reached one quarterfinal in her last five attempts.


Against Linette, who had never beaten a top-10 player before and had lost in the first round at Wimbledon four times, Svitolina lacked inspiration and admitted she was struggling mentally and that her game was not in the best shape.


"Today I was not really in a good place. I need some time to analyse, but I think mentally it was not very good for me today," Svitolina told reporters.


"When you play a Grand Slam it's a different kind of pressure. It's tough to handle, but is part of the job.


"Today probably I was not fresh mentally to do that. I have been on the Tour for years now and there have been different kinds of situations. But right now, I wouldn't say it's a very smooth time in my career..."


Krejcikova through


French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova brushed aside second round opponent German veteran Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-4 in early play on Thursday.


Coco Gauff, now 17, eased through against British wildcard Francesca Jones but a sterner test awaits her in the form of 2016 semifinalist Elena Vesnina.


Gauff confessed that returning to the grounds where she was arguably the star of the show in 2019, beating Venus Williams along the way to the last 16, had been intimidating.


"I was really nervous going in, my first time back since everything happened in 2019," she said.


"But I think today, like, was a solid first-round performance for me." -- Agencies


Wimbledon results


Men (second round)


Christian Garin (CHI x17) bt Marc Polmans (AUS) 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5); Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP x8) bt Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 3-6, 6-3; Aljaz Bedene (SLO) bt Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 6-1, 6-0, 6-2;


Alexander Zverev (GER x4) bt Tennys Sandgren (USA) 7-5, 6-2, 6-3; Cameron Norrie (GBR x29) bt Alex Bolt (AUS) 6-3, 6-1, 6-2


Women (second round)


Katerina Siniakova (CZE) bt Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) bt Marta Kostyuk (UKR) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; Barbora Krejcikova (CZE x14) bt Andrea Petkovic (GER) 7-5, 6-4; Magda Linette (POL) bt Elina Svitolina (UKR x3) 6-3, 6-4; Paula Badosa (ESP x30) bt Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-4, 6-1; Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x16) bt Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 6-3, 6-3; Karolina Muchova (CZE x19) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; Shelby Rogers (USA) bt Maria Sakkari (GRE x15) 7-5, 6-4


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