Two of the last three most recent Wimbledon champions were in action in the second round at the All England Club on Thursday — and both advanced to the third round.
But there were different roads to sealing a spot in the Round of 32 for 2022 winner Elena Rybakina and defending champion Barbora Krejcikova.
What happened
In a No. 1 Court match between two players who peaked at World No. 3 in the PIF WTA Rankings, No. 11 seed Rybakina rolled past Maria Sakkari 6-1, 6-3 to reach the last 32 at Wimbledon for the fifth consecutive year.
After double-faulting twice in the first game of the second set to drop serve, Rybakina didn’t lose another game.
She is now 5-1 against Sakkari, whose ranking has slipped to No. 77, all-time, and has won their last four matches.
Next door on No. 2 Court, No. 17 seed Krejcikova — who dropped the first set of her first-round match against Alexandra Eala of the Philippines on Tuesday — was again stretched to three sets, but had enough to push past American Caroline Dolehide 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
After two sets in which she hit more errors than winners, Krejcikova saved her best tennis for the third set. She hit 10 winners in eight games, breaking Dolehide twice, and never faced break point herself.
What they said
“I think I was playing well on the baseline,” said Rybakina, who hit 23 winners to Sakkari’s five.
“Overall, I think I found a little bit better my rhythm on the serve later and played pretty confident,” she added, reflecting on losing just two points in her final three service games.
“[It was] definitely a very tough match today,” Krejcikova said. “Very tough conditions that she’s playing. She’s very difficult player. The match was really up and down, but I’m very happy at the end that I was the won that one and I’m through.”
What’s next
Rybakina has, in fact, never lost before the Round of 16 at the All England Club. For a return trip to the second week, she will face either No. 23 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark or Anna Kalinskaya.
Krejcikova, meanwhile, has what she dubbed an “interesting” match against No. 10 seed Emma Navarro next. They have never played previously.
While admitting to not watching any of Krejcikova’s championship run at SW19 12 months ago, Navarro added: “She’s confident on this surface, and she knows she has what it takes to go all the way. But from my end I feel like I have a lot of tools and the ability to sort of combat that.”