SHOCKER! Top seeds knocked out of Wimbledon Open

Sports

THE world No. 1 is out. The second-best protagonist has been booted out. Even the world No. 3 is no longer in contention.

In what has been a topsy turvy competition, this year’s Wimbledon Championships has been marked by mind-boggling upset with top-ranked players falling one after another.

First to score a massive upset was Elise Mertens, who booted out former champion and second seed Elena Rybakina in their third-round duel, 7-6 (4), 6-1.

The world No. 2 Rybakina was highly favored against the world No. 27 Mertens, who is seeded No. 25 in the tournament.

Rybakina won the 2022 Wimbledon Open and came into the tournament as this season's Australian Open champion.

But the 30-year-old Belgian Mertens pulled off a big surprise and scored just her second win in nine meetings against the Kazakhstani Rybakina.

An even bigger upset was consummated when Filipina tennis star Alex Eala defeated world No. 3 and defending champion Iga Swiatek in their own third-round duel, 7-6 (9), 6-2.

The 21-year-old, world No. 32 Eala was relentless in the astoundoing win, forcing Swiatek to commit five double faults and 44 unforced errors.

Eala, the first Filipino player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era, is now 2-1 against Świątek as she also defeated the Polish star in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open in March 2025.

The string of upsets didn’t stop there.

Japanese star Naomi Osaka, ranked No. 14 in the world, authored another shocker when she took down world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) to advance to the quarterfinal round.

With the win, Osaka arranged a Final 8 duel against Czech 10th seed Karolina Muchova.

With Sabalenka, Rybakina, and Swiatek out, the highest-ranked participant left in the tournament is American Pegula, who is ranked No. 4 in the world.

Pegula has already advanced to the quarterfinal opposite world No. 7 Coco Gauff in an all American showdown.

Eala and Mertens, on the other hand, will take world No. 17 Jasmine Paolini and Marie Bouzkova in the Round of 16, respectively.(CCM)