Sport

Top seed Halep sent packing at Wimbledon

Halep’s defeat means nine of the top 10 women’s seeds have been knocked out in the first week

Simona Halep of Romania leaves the court after being defeated by Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Sat Jul 7 2018 - 17:41

Top seed and world number one Simona Halep was sent tumbling out of Wimbledon as a week of upsets ended with another major shock.

The French Open champion was beaten 3-6 6-4 7-5 by world number 48 Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan on Court One.

Halep's defeat means nine of the top 10 women's seeds have been knocked out in the first week — leaving seventh seed Karolina Pliskova as the highest-ranked player.

The path is now even clearer for 36-year-old Serena Williams to challenge for an eighth Wimbledon title in only her fourth event since giving birth last September.

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Halep begun nervously but so did her opponent, resulting in five breaks of serve in the first five games.

But having taken the first set Halep dropped the second as Hsieh began to find her range.

Romanian Halep broke at the start of the decider and led 5-2 at one stage, but Hsieh broke back and went on to secure a memorable win.

Moments after the match ended, news came through from Russia that England had taken the lead in their World Cup quarter-final against Sweden.

That led to cheers on Court One and fans briefly burst into a chant of “Football’s coming home”.

Once she left the court, Hsieh told the BBC: “It’s the first time I’ve beaten a world number one, it’s amazing for me to be out there and to fight against Simona.

“In the first set I was there but I was hiding a bit too much. But I’m happy I made it through the second set and at 2-5 down in the final set there was a lot of support which pushed me to keep fighting

“She played amazing. I had to run and fight for every point. I tried to concentrate on my game and calm down a bit. The crowd gave me so much energy.”

She is savouring her Wimbledon experience, on and off court, adding: “This year I tried to enjoy it more. Not just tennis. I enjoy the food, the strawberries and cream, the lobster, but when you play singles and doubles I need to find the time to run out to get the food.”

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