LONDON, July 6 — As the All England Club braces for the chaos of “Manic Monday,” the women’s singles draw has been fundamentally rewritten following a staggering Middle Sunday that saw defending champion Iga Swiatek and 2022 titleholder Elena Rybakina ousted within hours of each other.
The twin upsets guarantee that a first-time Wimbledon champion will be crowned this year and set up a high-stakes round of 16 today, with the top half of the draw effectively blown wide open.
The seismic shifts began on Centre Court yesterday, when 21-year-old Alexandra Eala of the Philippines dismantled third seed and reigning champion Swiatek 7-6 (9), 6-2 in a match lasting two hours and 14 minutes. Later in the day on an adjacent show court, Belgian veteran Elise Mertens, seeded 25th, eliminated second seed Rybakina 7-6 (4), 6-1.
Eala, ranked outside the top thirty at the start of the fortnight, arrived at Centre Court as the 29th seed and the first Filipino woman ever to receive a Wimbledon seeding. Playing with the deliberate left-handed flat hitting that has become her signature since her teenage years at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, she went toe-to-toe with the six-time major champion for eighty-five minutes in the opening set, exchanging early breaks before edging a tense tiebreak. Once ahead, she barely allowed Swiatek to settle. Two early breaks put Eala 4-0 in front in the second set, and although the champion pulled one back, another break in the seventh game sealed the outcome. Swiatek finished with forty-four unforced errors; Eala hit four aces and produced significantly more winners than errors across the match.
The result carried a weight beyond the scoreline. It was the first time in the Open era that a player from the Philippines had reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam, and the first time since Martina Navratilova in 1982 that a left-handed player had defeated a defending women’s singles champion at Wimbledon. Swiatek’s exit ended a nine-match winning streak and extended a remarkable drought: no woman has successfully defended a Wimbledon singles title since Serena Williams did so in 2016.
Eala’s victory sparked celebrations in Manila, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. calling her performance a source of national pride. Today, she faces a formidable test in the round of 16 against 13th seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy.
The Rybakina match followed a similar arc but with different technical details. The Kazakh had come into the tournament with the prospect of overtaking Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the WTA rankings had she reached the second week. The first set, however, ran on serve into a tiebreak in which Mertens, drawing on her world-class doubles instincts, mixed slice returns, drop shots and net approaches to disrupt her opponent’s baseline rhythm and take it 7-4. The second set unravelled quickly. Rybakina finished with a first-serve win rate of just 42 percent and thirty-one unforced errors.
For Mertens, the outcome ranks among the most significant of her career, ending a six-match losing streak against Rybakina. She will next play 21st seed Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic today. Rybakina’s loss also means that Sabalenka retains the world No. 1 ranking after the tournament regardless of subsequent results.
The two headline upsets were not the only surprises of the weekend. Sixth seed Amanda Anisimova, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, was ousted by 26th seed Madison Keys, further clearing the path in the top half.
As Manic Monday unfolds, the narrative has shifted entirely. With Swiatek, Rybakina, and Anisimova all eliminated, the pressure now falls on world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the bottom half, while younger challengers like Eala look to convert their breakthrough weekend into a maiden major title.
