IMAGES from Day 6 of the Wimbledon Championships, at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, on Saturday.
Iga Swiatek'has never had much affection for grass and any hope that this year's Wimbledon would kindle a blossoming love affair for the surface went up in flames as the world number one was sent tumbling out in a 3-6, 6-1 6-2 defeat by Yulia Putintseva on Saturday.
On paper the fiery 35th-ranked Kazakh should have been easy pickings for the top-seeded Swiatek, who had not dropped a set in their previous four meetings and came into the encounter on a 21-match winning streak that included banking a fifth grand slam title at the French Open.
Yet slick grass courts just do not suit Swiatek and in a cauldron atmosphere on Court One, Swiatek disintegrated under huge pressure from Putintseva, who dusted herself down after losing the first set to launch an attacking barrage that the Pole could not contain.
The huge Swiatek ground strokes that had inflicted so much punishment in the opener were now being returned with interest, while the Pole's movement seemed suddenly sluggish, her feet a fraction of a second slower to adjust to the ball.
Putintseva broke twice in the second set and twice more in the third before sealing victory to set up a fourth-round clash against Jelena Ostapenko.
When Swiatek netted a backhand return on match point, Putintseva's huge smile filled Court One and the fans, who seemed to switch their allegiance to the Kazakh in the second set, celebrated with her.
"This is crazy guys it was great energy from all of you and I was trying to entertain you more and more with my shots and I was taking energy from you guys," she said.
For Swiatek it was yet another disappointment at Wimbledon, where last year's run to the quarter-finals remains her best effort.
It was not therefore as big a shock as it may have seemed. None of her 22 singles titles have come on grass, a surface on which she has never even reached a final.
You would have been hard pushed to believe that as she found her range in the first set, thumping winners off both flanks and breaking in the sixth game when Putintseva netted a backhand.
Yet after sealing the opener, everything turned nasty for Swiatek. Putinseva broke in the fourth game of the second set, roaring her delight as Swiatek fired a forehand wide.
The Kazakh then saved three break-points to hold before inflicting another blow on the Pole's serve and seeing out the set.
That was the first set Swiatek had dropped since the second round of the French Open on May 29 and she immediately left the court for a bathroom break.
She took an age to return and the crowd, egged on by Putintseva, showed their frustration with a slow hand clap and a smattering of boos when she reappeared.
That seemed to stoke Putintseva's fires further and she immediately broke when Swiatek netted a backhand after another crunching return from the Kazakh.
That was not the end of the punishment for Swiatek, however, as Putintseva broke her serve again at the next opportunity for a 3-0 lead from which point there was no way back.
After passing up her first two match-points, Putintseva earned a third with a crafty drop shot and moments later she was leaning back in her chair, rubbing her eyes in delight and disbelief.
Wang battles back to leave Dart in tears
Local favourite Harriet Dart wiped away tears at the net at Wimbledon on Saturday after she failed to break down the solid defence of China's Wang Xinyu, losing her third-round match 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Dart, who knocked out compatriot and 32nd seed Katie Boulter earlier this week, could not hide her emotion before congratulating 22-year-old Wang, at 42 ranked 58 places above the Briton.
Wang had trouble at the start of the match coping with a swirling and chilly wind as well as her opponent's aggressive game.
The encounter was also disrupted by rain and it took until midway through the second set for the Chinese woman to settle into a rhythm and find her range.
Dart took the first set with a fierce cross-court winner, after breaking Wang's serve four times as both players struggled with the ball toss in the stiff breeze.
Wang, who reached the fourth round of the US Open last year, settled her nerves and took the second set on her third set point with a volley winner.
She said she had trouble dealing with Dart's serve and her "super-flat" balls.
"I was getting a bit more used to her balls and all the slices. I felt more comfortable each time as the match was going," Wang said in a courtside interview.
The British No.2, cheered by a partisan crowd, won the first three games of the third set but could not maintain her intensity and became increasingly frustrated by Wang's solid defence and tenacity.
Wang, who upset fifth seed Jessica Pegula in the second round, took advantage and reeled off the next six games, clinching the match with a determined volley winner.
She told the crowd she was looking forward to the fourth round and added: "Hopefully you cheer more for me next time."
Dart's defeat means Emma Raducanu, who reached the fourth round on Friday, is the only British player left in the draw.
Rybakina overpowers Wozniacki
Elena Rybakina overpowered former world number one Caroline Wozniacki to blast her way into the Wimbledon fourth round on Saturday, dropping just one game in a brutal display.
The opening set went by in a flash as Rybakina came out firing on all cylinders and only a short mid-match break while the Court One roof was slid across slowed her down.
Playing at the grasscourt major for the first time in five years after coming out of retirement following the birth of her two children, Wozniacki offered a little more resistance when play resumed.
But the 33-year-old never looked like turning the tide against the 2022 champion.
The Moscow-born Kazakh fired down nine aces and struck 36 winners in 57 minutes of one-sided action and appears to have her eyes fixed firmly on a second Wimbledon title.
She is in the fourth round for the fourth successive year where she will face 17th seed Anna Kalinskaya.
Svitolina ends Jabeur's Wimbledon dream
Fifty-one weeks after a heartbroken Ons Jabeur trudged off Wimbledon's Centre Court with tears streaking down her face after a second successive defeat in the final, the tormented Tunisian was left to digest another painful loss on Saturday.
Jabeur's long cherished dream to hold aloft the Venus Rosewater Dish was destroyed for at least another year following a brutal 6-1, 7-6(4) defeat by Elina Svitolina in the third round.
Svitolina held a 3-1 win-loss advantage over Jabeur coming into the third round showdown but a lot has happened since she achieved the last of those wins over the Tunisian in 2019.
The two 29-year-olds, born 15 days apart, had both charmed Wimbledon 12 months ago with their heart-warming back stories.
Svitolina, hailing from Ukraine, cast aside four Grand Slam champions as she made it all the way to the semi-finals just eight months after the birth of her daughter Skai.
Jabeur, meanwhile, was on a mission to become the first African and Arab woman to win a major - and Centre Court fans wanted to wrap their arms around her in a giant collective hug when she was left sobbing after her game fell apart in the final against Marketa Vondrousova.
All year long, the popular Tunisian lives and breathes for playing on tennis's most fabled arena. Even when she competing on red clay or blue hardcourts, she has found herself fantasising that she is playing on the green, green grass of Centre Court.
But that stage is now turning into her own personal torture chamber as the gut-wrenching losses are starting to pile up and her lifelong goal to become an All England Club member remains unfulfilled.
Tenth seed Jabeur could have been 2-0 up right at the start as she had a break-point in Svitolina's opening service game and a game point in the next.
Instead it was Ukrainian 21st seed Svitolina who struck the killer blows early to open up a 2-0 lead and she never moved her eye off the ball as she romped through to bag the first set after Jabeur tamely netted a service return on set point.
Jabeur, beaten by Elena Rybakina in the 2022 final, managed to put up more of a fight in the second set and even had set point at 6-5 up on Svitolina's serve.
But the nightmare memories Jabeur is starting to collect from Centre Court will have another addition as her forehand down the line fell millilitres wide and Svitolina grabbed that reprieve to get out of trouble.
A wayward forehand on match point - the 31st unforced error to fly off her racket - condemned Jabeur to her earliest defeat at the grasscourt major for five years, leaving Svitolina to lap up the applause from the crowd which included her husband Gael Monfils.
She will next face China's Wang Xinyu.
