WIMBLEDON, England — As the top seed at Wimbledon and reigning French Open champion, Simona Halep was always going to be a focus of attention. By the time she played her third-round match at the All England Club, she was being watched with the type of concern normally reserved for endangered species.
Entering Saturday, eight of the top 10 seeds in women’s singles had been eliminated. Then Halep joined them, falling in the third round, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, to 48th-ranked Hsieh Su-wei. Of the top 10 women, only No. 7 Karolina Pliskova reached the fourth round.
Halep, who did not play any warm-up events on grass before Wimbledon, attributed her loss to fatigue from the first six months of the season
“I was too tired. I have pain everywhere,” she said. “I will not find the excuses about this match — she deserved to win — but still I’m sad about myself today.”
Halep had a match point with Hsieh serving at 4-5 in the third set, but Hsieh fended it off by leaning into a darting backhand down the line.
Hsieh has pulled off three recent upsets of top 10 players at Grand Slam tournaments, including a victory against Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round of this year’s Australian Open.
“You don’t have big chance to win because they’re very good,” Hsieh said. “So all I want to do is just go on the court and hit the shot and run every point and enjoy it.”
No. 11 Angelique Kerber, who defeated No. 18 Naomi Osaka, 6-2, 6-4, on Saturday, is the highest-ranked player to reach the second week in the top half of the draw. Pliskova is the highest-ranked player in the bottom half, which also includes seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams.
Though players who pull off blockbuster upsets often succumb in the next round, eight of the nine women who beat top 10 opponents here reached the second week.
Top-seeded Roger Federer and second-seeded Rafael Nadal remain alive on each side of the men’s draw, but five of the top 10 seeds there have been eliminated. The latest was fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev, who lost to the qualifier Ernests Gulbis, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-0.
© 2018 The New York Times Company
