LONDON — Aryna Sabalenka joked that she’d love it if the upsets at Wimbledon would stop, which makes sense, given that she is ranked No. 1 on the WTA Tour.
She’s also the only one of the top five seeds still in the women’s singles bracket after No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, last year’s runner-up, followed No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 5 Zheng Qinwen on the way out.
Sabalenka was two points from dropping the opening set of her second-round match three times Wednesday before asserting herself for a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Marie Bouzkova.
In all, a record-tying 23 seeded players — 10 women, 13 men — were gone by the end of the second day of the year’s third major championship tournament, equaling the most at any Grand Slam event in the past 25 years. Five more women joined them by losing Wednesday: Paolini, No. 12 Diana Shnaider, No. 21 Beatriz Haddad Maia, No. 22 Donna Vekic and No. 29 Leylah Fernandez.
“Of course you’re going to know the overall picture,” Sabalenka said, then added with a chuckle: “I hope it’s no upsets anymore in this tournament, if you know what I mean.”