Wimbledon carnage continues as both Halep and Zverev go out

You can add Simona Halep to the names of top seeds that have gone out in the first week of Wimbledon, following the other eight Top 10 players on the women’s side. Ouch.

There are seven seeded players left in the women’s draw at Wimbledon. Seven. It is week one.

Of the seven, only one is in the Top 10 as Simona Halep bowed out on Saturday, losing to No. 48 Hsieh Su-wei, 3-6 6-4 7-5, in a tough match that lasted almost two and a half hours.

Most of the women have been mentioning nerves going into this Wimbledon and the grass grand slam has been dealing with a record heat wave which has been wreaking havoc during the first week. Still, for 25 seeds to go out on the women’s side in the first week is beyond surprising, it is quite shocking. Halep has been playing with such confidence since winning her maiden slam at Roland Garros a few weeks ago, her exit in week one is the biggest upset of them all. She is fortunate that she will be able to secure her No. 1 ranking, even with the loss.

Karolina Pliskova, seeded seventh, is now the highest ranked player left in the draw. The next seeded contender is outside the Top 10, No. 11 seed Angelique Kerber, who made the Wimbledon finals in 2016. Her serve was spot-on as she remained unfazed by upstart Naomi Osaka, defeating her in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, and is now slated to face a grass court specialist, Belinda Bencic.

After her win over Osaka, Kerber said:

"[Bencic and I have] never played on grass, so it will be the first time as well. She’s a tough opponent. She has nothing to lose. She is always a dangerous player. She likes to play on grass…it’s another tough match to play."

Dominika Cibulkova, who just missed being seeded with Wimbledon’s decision to give the 32 spot to Serena Williams over the Slovakian, has been dismantling her opponents one by one, including dashing Britain’s hopes by sending Johanna Konta home, and easily dispatching Elise Mertens in two sets on Saturday, 6-2, 6-2. Cibulkova also hasn’t held back her thoughts about being unseeded at the slam:

"I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. I think it’s just not fair. I have tried and I should be seeded. If they put her in front of me then I will lose my spot that I am supposed to have.I was a former number four. Why should I not be seeded if I have the right to be?"

Giving Williams a seed has been part of an effort of the grand slams to treat women coming back from maternity leave more fairly. Williams hasn’t lost a set at the grand slam and is looking particularly strong going into week two, where she faces No. 120 ranked Evgeniya Rodina.

Jelena Ostapenko, Daria Kasatkina, Daria Gavrilova, and Alison Van Uytvanck all got through their matches on Saturday and have made it to the second week.

On the men’s side, 22 seeds have gone out — a little less of a shock than the women — but not Novak Djokovic, who deprived the home crowd of their last hope by denying Kyle Edmund a spot into the Round of 16, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Things started out right for the Yorkshireman with the first set going his way, but Djokovic has won the grand slam three times and found a way to dig deep and flip the switch to secure his spot into the second week, despite losing it over a call gone wrong.

He now faces the winner of the grueling five-set match with American Francis Tiafoe, Karen Khachanov, who defeated Tiafoe 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-1.

Alexander Zverev is out in another grand slam first week, battling a bout of stomach flu, despite putting up a fight in the middle, but ultimately running out of steam by the end, 7-6(2), 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-0, to Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis, who will face Kei Nishikori.

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Zverev has yet to reach the quarterfinals at a grand slam and the world No. 3 is looking to prove himself at one of the majors. He has just the U.S. Open left to do so this year.

Winners on Saturday included of course Rafael Nadal, but also Jiří Veselý, Giles Simon, and an on-fire Juan Martin del Potro.

There are no matches on Sunday, but the Round of 16 starts on Monday, viewable on ESPN and the Tennis Channel.