Ruud shock for Casper, Kontaveit

LONDON: Casper Ruud, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal at the French Open 2022, became the seventh of the top 11-ranked male players to be out of the Wimbledon Championships for either losing early, injury, illness or being banned.

Norway’s Ruud, who was seeded third but ranked sixth, lost to Ugo Humbert of France 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 4-6 on Wednesday in the second round. Meanwhile, top seed Novak Djokovic (Serbia), a six-time Wimbledon champion who is looking for his fourth straight title at the All England Club, defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round.

Nadal had advanced to the second round on Tuesday. Top-ranked Daniil Medvedev is out because of a ban on Russians over the war in Ukraine, No.2 Alexander Zverev is injured, No. 8 Andrey Rublev of Russia is also banned, No.9 Felix Auger-Aliassime and No. 10 Hubert Hurkacz lost, and No. 11 Matteo Berrettini withdrew after testing positive for COVID-19.

In the women’s draw, the second-seeded Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) and 2017 Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza (Spain) were eliminated. Kontaveit lost 4-6, 0-6 to Juke Niemeier of Germany while the ninth-seeded Muguruza was beaten by German Greet Minnen 4-6, 0-6. Kontaveit said that she had COVID-19 in recent months and added that she has struggled to get her energy back.

“I had it (the coronavirus) a couple, two months ago, I think, or something like that. Then I tried to come back very quickly. I started training. It was low intensity, but I was still training every day. I think that was where I went wrong,” the 26-year-old Kontaveit said. “Just thinking back at it, I probably should have given myself more time to recover.”

Among the winners were No.6 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who beat her country mate Tereza Martincova 7-6(1), 7-5 in a match that started on Tuesday, No.8 Jessica Pegula of the United States of America and No.12 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.

Ruud was making his third appearance at the All England Club. His victory over Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Monday was his first at the grasscourt Grand Slam. Meanwhile, No. 23 Frances Tiafoe of the United States, No. 25 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia and No. 32 Oscar Otte of Germany all advanced to the third round. Meanwhile, Djokovic broke Kokkinakis’s serve early in each of the three sets and managed five breaks in the match. Djokovic dominated rallies with his precise ground strokes and was eager to step forward at every opportunity – winning 30 out of 38 points at the net.

He brought the crowd to its feet with well-disguised drop shots and when Kokkinakis chased a few of them down, Djokovic calmly played the overhead lob to keep his opponent stranded at the net. The only opportunity Kokkinakis had on Djokovic’s serve came when the Serb was serving for victory, but the top seed duly saved the break point and closed out the win on his second match point.

RESULTS (SELECTED):

Men’s singles: Second round: C Ruud lost to U Humbert 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 4-6; N Djokovic bt T Kokkinakis 6-1, 6-4, 6-2; C Norrie bt J Munar 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-0, 6-2

Women’s singles: Second round: J Niemeier bt A Kontaveit 6-4, 6-0; G Muguruza lost to G Minnen 4-6, 0-6; T Martincova lost to K Pliskova 6-7(1), 5-7; C Garcia bt E Raducanu 6-3, 6-3 First round: S Williams lost to H Tan 5-7, 6-1, 6-7(7)