London, July 7 World No.35 Yulia Putintseva stormed back from a set deficit to stun World No.1 Iga Swiatek while No.21 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine charged past two-time finalist Ons Jabeur in the third round of the women's singles action at the Wimbledon on Saturday.
Putintseva, champion at the Rothesay Classic two weeks ago, lost the first set but fought back strongly to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 and extended her win streak to eight matches after ending Swiatek's own streak at 21. The victory puts Putintseva into her first Round of 16 at Wimbledon and first at any major since making the 2020 US Open quarterfinals.
In a Centre Court clash between two of last year's top performers here, Svitolina charged past Jabeur of Tunisia 6-1, 7-6(4) to make the Round of 16.
Putintseva will face Jelena Ostapenko for a spot in the quarterfinals on Monday. Ostapenko sailed into the Round of 16 with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Bernarda Pera earlier in the day.
A Wimbledon semifinalist in 2018, the Latvian needed just 59 minutes to advance to her first Slam fourth round this season. She has lost 10 games across her three matches.
The 29-year-old had yet to take a set from Swiatek in their four previous matches. In nine previous appearances at Wimbledon, she had never made it past the second round before this year. She had beaten a reigning World No.1 just once in her career.
But momentum matters, particularly on the grass where confidence and instincts reign supreme. Two weeks ago, Putintseva won her first grass-court title in Birmingham and she's parlayed that win to a career-best eight-match win streak. She has now made the Round of 16 at a major on all three surfaces.
ith that, Putintseva handed the World No.1 just her fifth loss of the season and first since another player representing Kazakhstan: Elena Rybakina at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Putintseva's two wins over World No.1 have now come, ironically, on grass. She also beat Naomi Osaka in 2019 Birmingham.
Svitolina, who reached her second career Wimbledon semifinal in 2023, needed 80 minutes to end Jabeur's hopes of making a third straight Wimbledon final. Jabeur finished runner-up to Elena Rybakina in 2022 and Marketa Vondrousova in 2023.
Despite Jabeur's grass-court acumen, Svitolina maintained the upper hand in their rivalry. Svitolina and Jabeur had not faced off since 2021 and this was their first meeting on grass; nevertheless, Svitolina improved to 4-1 over Jabeur after triumphing without dropping her serve.
Just over a year into her comeback from maternity leave, former World No.3 Svitolina keeps posting quality results at the majors.
Svitolina has made the second week at five of the six Grand Slams she has contested since her return, including a quarterfinal at 2023 Roland Garros ahead of her 2023 Wimbledon semifinal run.
However, this was Svitolina's first Top 10 win since she shocked World No.1 Iga Swiatek in last year's Wimbledon quarterfinals. In the 12 months between that upset and her victory over Jabeur on Saturday, Svitolina had gone 0-6 against the Top 10.
--IANS
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