Wimbledon Day 4 preview: Swiatek, Andreeva headline a draw shaken by early exits

WIMBLEDON -- The first round in the bottom half of the draw featured all kinds of surprising chaos and carnage.

Now fewer than 10 American women advanced to the second round overall but, shockingly, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were not among them. No. 15 Karolina Muchova and No. 26 Marta Kostyuk joined them on the sidelines. Cheers and Godspeed to the departed two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova for the last time and, on the other end of the spectrum, rising star Alexandra Eala.

Three qualifiers made it to the second round -- Anastasia Zakharova, Veronika Erjavec and Elsa Jacquemot -- joining Diane Parry and Aliaksandra Sasnovich from the top half.

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws

Not to worry, there are still a number of realistic threats left in Thursday’s play:

No. 11 seed -- and 2022 Wimbledon champion -- Elena Rybakina, No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, No. 8 Iga Swiatek, No. 10 Emma Navarro and defending champion Barbora Krejcikova.

Let’s take a closer look at their intriguing matches:

No. 7 Mirra Andreeva vs. Lucia Bronzetti

Head-to-head:0-0.

She won back-to-back WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells, but Andreeva’s volleys can sometimes be something of an adventure. After defeating Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-3, the 18-year-old admitted she had surprised herself.

“I felt like every time I was going to the net, every time I was sure that I would hit a great volley,” Andreeva said. “I felt like it brought me a lot of free points. We’ve been practicing a lot to improve my volleys and overall my net game. Finally I think that maybe the work is paying off a little bit.”

Coming off difficult losses in Paris and Berlin, Andreeva was steady. Going forward she can be a threat; two years ago, she reached the fourth round here.

Bronzetti was a 6-4, 7-5 winner over Jil Teichmann, her first-career Wimbledon main-draw win in her fourth appearance.

No. 8 Iga Swiatek vs. Caty McNally

Head-to-head: 1-0, Swiatek, three years ago in Ostrava, 6-4, 6-4.

After reaching the finals last week in Bad Homburg, Swiatek was a 7-5, 6-1 winner over Polina Kudermetova.

“I think it was a pretty solid start,” Swiatek said. “Obviously I needed some time to adjust to the grass because it’s different than Bad Homburg. I’m happy with the performance and I felt like I’m playing better every game.”

After undergoing elbow surgery, McNally began the year outside the Top 500 in the PIF WTA Rankings. Playing lower-tier events, the 23-year-old American has made steady progress. While she failed to qualify in Bad Homburg, she looked sharp handling Great Britain’s Jodie Burrage 6-3, 6-1 in the first round at Wimbledon – her first main-draw win at the All England Club.

No. 10 Emma Navarro vs. Veronika Kudermetova

Head-to-head: 1-0. Kudermetova.

Don’t let that head-to-head fool you. That second-round match in Charleston came four years ago, when Navarro was still a teenager ranked No. 481. Kudermetova, in her prime, won the match 6-4, 6-4 -- and the tournament, too.

Navarro is now a Top 10 player and coming off a 6-3, 6-1 victory over two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in her final match at the All England Club.

“I wanted to just enjoy it out there and try to allow her to enjoy it a little bit as well, but also, it’s a tennis match,” Navarro said afterward. “You want to win. So, yeah, I guess some unique emotions today. I was proud of how I was able to sort of work through that and kind of play some good tennis at times.”

Kudermetova, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Zhu Lin, is looking to advance to the third-round here for the first time.

No. 11 Elena Rybakina vs. Maria Sakkari

Head-to-head:4-1, Rybakina, beating her twice in 2024, at the United Cup in Australia and Miami.

Rybakina defeated Elina Avanesyan 6-2, 6-1 -- in 61 minutes -- to run her Wimbledon record to 20-3. Percentage-wise, that’s the best of all the women in this draw.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion didn’t serve particularly well, but saved eight of nine break points against her, while converting five of six against Avanesyan.

Sakkari was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Anna Blinkova. She’s trying to reach the third round here for the fifth time in her career.

No. 17 Barbora Krejcikova vs. Caroline Dolehide

Head-to-head:0-0.

Krejcikova looked wobbly early but came back to beat 20-year-old phenom Alexandra Eala, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. It was an impressive win, considering she entered with just three wins this year after back and thigh injuries.

Following the Wimbledon tradition, Krejcikova played Tuesday’s first match on Centre Court and made a grand entrance.

“I really enjoyed the walk from the locker room down the stairs in front of the door, in front of the door to the court,” she said. “Then, yeah, when it opened, it was just very, very ... something very, very beautiful and just very joyful experience.

“This was really something that I was looking forward to since last year.”

Dolehide, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Arantxa Rus, is into the second round here for the first time in four tries.

Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs. Katie Volynets

Head-to-head:0-0.

Now, this is a surprise … two of the best on grass this year are gone from the bottom half of the draw after a single match. 

Tatjana Maria, the champion at Queen’s Club, was sent home courtesy of Volynets, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1. Earlier, Cocciaretto upset Bad Homburg winner and No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-3 in 58 minutes. 

“I was thinking about this match since two days, like every single moment,” Cocciaretto said. “I said to myself, ‘OK, you have to do the positive things that you did wrong in the other matches. You need to don’t think about anything, just to enjoy the match.’

“It went really good.”

Dayana Yastremska vs. qualifier Anastasia Zakharova

Head-to-head:0-0.

Yastremska scored the biggest upset of the tournament, sending No. 2 seed Coco Gauff home with a 7-6 (3), 6-1 defeat. It was only three weeks ago that Gauff was crowned the champion at Roland Garros.

The 25-year-old from Ukraine had never beaten Gauff in three tries, and she’s undeniably feeling it right now.

“I was actually on fire,” Yastremska said, smiling. “My mind was in a way that this match can be in my hands.”

She’ll feel the same way against Zakharova, who has already won four matches here, including qualifying. Her Wimbledon main-draw debut couldn’t have gone much better; she took out two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka in three sets.

Hailey Baptiste vs. lucky loser Victoria Mboko

Head-to-head:0-0.

Mboko may want to send Anastasia Potapova a substantial parting gift -- maybe a car or a nice vacation. For when the No. 44-ranked Potapova pulled out with a lingering hip injury sustained in Berlin, Mboko sailed into the main draw -- despite losing in the last round of qualifying to Priscilla Hon.

The 18-year-old Canadian upset No. 25 seed Magdalena Frech 6-3, 6-2, and with a win over Baptiste would add £152,000 to her bank account.

Baptiste will be tough to beat. Consider this feat of mental strength: She lost a first-set tiebreak to Sorana Cirstea 7-0 -- and came back to win 12 of the last 15 games.