Former champ Rybakina crashes out at Wimbledon

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina suffered a shock third-round exit in a 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 defeat against Elise Mertens on Saturday.

Rybakina was hoping to follow her Australian Open triumph in January by winning Wimbledon for the second time.

But the world number two was unable to emulate her 2022 victory at the All England Club as Belgian 25th seed Mertens produced a major upset on Court One.

Rybakina, 27, also endured a disappointing early departure from the recent French Open, losing to Yuliia Starodubtseva in the second round.

The Russia-born Kazakhstani, who beat Ons Jabeur to win Wimbledon four years ago, has failed to make it past the third round on her last two visits to south-west London.

But Rybakina has no intention of letting the defeat ruin the rest of the season.

"I just try to move on. I mean, I lost so many times. I'm sure I'm still going to keep losing. It's impossible to win everything," she said.

"Not the result I wanted today. Definitely not happy. I'm of course upset, but it's not going to take more than one, two days."

Rybakina plans to analyse her form closely before the hard-court swing, which culminates in the US Open.

"If I knew why, I wouldn't be in this situation right now. As soon as it happened a couple weeks ago when I was not playing my best, honestly, I don't know," she said.

"I was getting a lot of opportunities since I was losing early in the tournaments. Definitely I need to analyse and change something, because it's not working.

"Now it's going to be at least for a longer period of time same surface, and it's kind of one of the last pushes of the year.

"First, I'm looking forward to change a little bit the scenario and just rest."

Mertens is a two-time Wimbledon doubles champion and has now reached the last 16 in the All England Club singles on four occasions.

She will play Czech 21st seed Marie Bouzkova for a place in the quarter-finals.

The 30-year-old's best run in a Grand Slam singles tournament is a 2018 Australian Open semi-final appearance.

"Definitely one of my most memorable wins, especially against her here at Wimbledon," Mertens said.

"Looking back on my previous results on grass this year, it was a little bit of a mixed feelings.

"I really grew into the match. Also especially my last match, also grew into that match. That gave me a little bit of confidence.

I soaked it all in today on Court One. It's a beautiful court to play at."

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© Agence France-Presse