Clinical wins for Medvedev, Berrettini

Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev reached the Wimbledon last 32 for the third time with a straight-sets win over Spanish wildcard Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday.

Medvedev, fresh from his first grass-court title in Mallorca last weekend, eased to a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 over 18-year-old Alcaraz, the youngest player in the draw.

Grass dominance

Seventh seed Matteo Berrettini was equally impressive, continuing his strong grass-court season with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Botic Van de Zandschulp.

The Italian, winner at Queen’s Club earlier this month, fired 20 aces and advanced in two hours and 17 minutes to extend his record on grass to 7-0 this year.

Top-ranked Ash Barty advanced to the third round of a women’s draw depleted of other top contenders by beating Anna Blinkova 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday.

More carnage

Third seed Elina Svitolina became the latest upset victim, and eight of the top 11 players in the WTA rankings are out of the tournament due to defeat, withdrawal or injury.

Barty avoided an exit by overcoming an uncharacteristically unreliable serve. She committed nine double-faults, including three in the first game, and was broken three times. But she also hit 33 winners to 12 for Blinkova.

“Not my best serving day,” Barty said. “I was just out of rhythm a little bit. Some days you feel like you’re 8 feet tall and you can’t miss the box. Other days, like today, you feel like you’re 3-foot-nothing. It’s certainly nothing that will concern me over a longer period.”

Svitolina lost to Magda Linette of Poland, who earned the biggest victory of her career, 6-3, 6-4. Linette, ranked 44th, had never before beaten a top-15 player in a completed match. Linette had 28 winners to just eight for Svitolina, a semifinalist at Wimbledon two years ago.

Extending the run

French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova extended her winning streak to 14 matches by beating Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-4. Krejcikova seeks to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2015 to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back.

A former Wimbledon doubles champion, Krejcikova is making her tournament debut in the singles draw.

Men’s fourth-seed Alexander Zverev hit 13 aces, lost only 12 points on his serve and advanced to the third round by beating Tennys Sandgren 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. Zverev was the U.S. Open runner-up in 2020 and a semifinalist at last month’s French Open, but he has never been past the round of 16 at Wimbledon.

Britain advanced three men to the third round for the first time in 22 years. Cameron Norrie joined Andy Murray and Dan Evans in the round of 32 by sweeping past wild card Alex Bolt 6-3, 6-1, 6-2.

Murray fights on

Late on Wednesday, Murray appeared down and out before picking himself up and dusting himself down as he roared to a 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 second-round win over German qualifier Oscar Otte.

Murray has never lost a Grand Slam match to a player ranked as low as 151 (Otte’s ranking) and he had never been beaten before the third round at the All-England Club.

Venus out

Elsewhere, Ons Jabeur, the first Arab woman to win a WTA tournament, reached the third round of Wimbledon for the first time on Wednesday, beating five-time champion Venus Williams 7-5, 6-0.

Venus will next play with Nick Kyrgios in the mixed doubles.