Mertens stuns second seed Rybakina in Wimbledon third round

Second seed Elena Rybakina's hopes of a second Grand Slam title this year ​and taking over as world number one ‌ended at Wimbledon on Saturday as she faded to a 7-6(4) 6-1 third-round defeat by inspired Belgian ​Elise Mertens.

The Kazakh never recovered from losing ​a first-set tiebreak and 25th seed Mertens ⁠seized control thereafter to reach the last-16 ​at Wimbledon for the fourth time.

Rybakina, who added ​this year's Australian Open title to her 2022 Wimbledon crown, needed to reach at least the quarter-finals to ​have a chance of overhauling Aryna Sabalenka ​at the top of the WTA rankings.

But she produced a ‌flat ⁠performance on Court One against the wily 30-year-old Mertens whose greater variety proved decisive in her only her second win over Rybakina in ​nine meetings.

Mertens, ​a reigning ⁠Wimbledon doubles champion, won nine points in a row during one dominant ​spell in the second set and ​although ⁠she showed a few nerves when serving for the match she ended the contest with an ⁠ace.

She ​will fancy her chances of ​posting a best-ever Wimbledon run with Czech Marie Bouzkova up ​next.

-Reuters