No. 3 seed Svitolina falls at Wimbledon; BNP dates set

Magda Linette ousted Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-4 today in the
second round at Wimbledon. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Magda Linette stunned a top-three seed for the second consecutive Grand Slam tournament today.

   This time, it came without an asterisk.

   Linette, 29, of Poland ousted No. 3 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4 in the second round at Wimbledon after defeating No. 1 seed Ashleigh Barty 6-1, 2-2 (retired, hip) at the same stage of the French Open last month.

   Svitolina reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2019 and in the now-defunct Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2015. She also advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., in 2019.

   Only two of the top six women's seeds at Wimbledon — No. 1 Barty and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, the San Jose runner-up in 2019 — and only two past ladies champions, Garbine Muguruza (2017) and Angelique Kerber (2018), remain. 

   Kerber, who won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic, outlasted Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in 3 hours, 19 minutes, the longest women's match at Wimbledon this year.

   As usual, the men's draw has been much more predictable. Five of the top six seeds remain after two rounds: No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No. 5 Andrey Rublev and No. 6 Roger Federer.

   Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion who will turn 40 next month, beat Richard Gasquet, a 35-year-old Frenchman and two-time Wimbledon semifinalist, 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-4.

   James Duckworth, a 29-year-old Australian, surprised Sam Querrey, a 33-year-old San Francisco native now living in Las Vegas, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

   Duckworth underwent five operations in 13 months in 2017-18 and another one in March 2020. Querrey advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals in 2017 and quarterfinals in 2016 and 2019.

   In the first round of doubles:

   —No. 5 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan outplayed Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Caroline Garcia of France 6-4, 6-2. Shibahara, 23, was born in Mountain View and starred at UCLA.

   —No. 9 seeds Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos — who was born in Austria, grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and represents Mexico — routed Vivian Heisen of Germany and Kveta Peschke, a Czech who will turn 46 on July 9, 6-2, 6-1 in 51 minutes.

   Peschke won her only Grand Slam women's doubles title 10 years ago at Wimbledon with Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia. Peschke also has won both San Jose doubles titles, in 2018 with Latisha Chan of Chinese Taipei and in 2019 with Nicole Melichar, a Czech-born American.

   —No. 14 seeds Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan defeated Andres Molteni of Argentina and Andrea Vavassori of Italy 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4.

   —Andre Goransson (Cal, 2014-17), a 27-year-old Swede making his Grand Slam debut, and Casper Ruud of Norway edged Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez (no relation) of Spain 7-5, 4-6, 11-9. 

   BNP Paribas Open — The prestigious men's and women's tournament, normally held in March, is set for Oct. 4-17 in Indian Wells, Calif., tournament director Tommy Haas announced. 

   It will be the first edition of the BNP Paribas Open in 2 1/2 years. Because of the pandemic, the 2020 tourney was canceled the day before, and this year's event was postponed until the fall. 

   All fans, staff, sponsors, journalists and vendors must show valid proof of full vaccination. Depending on the COVID-19 conditions in October, Riverside County and California may require additional testing as well as mask mandates in certain seating areas.