Defending champion Krejcikova wins as top seeds buck trend

Barbora Krejcikova is a two-time major champion with triumphs at Wimbledon and Roland Garros

Wimbledon 2025

Dates: 30 June-13 July Venue: All England Club

Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. Full coverage guide.

Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova continued her title defence with victory in round two as the top seeds bucked the trend of early exits to advance on day four at Wimbledon.

Czech player Krejcikova secured a 6-4 4-6 6-2 win over American Caroline Dolehide, while there were also wins for seventh seed Mirra Andreeva, eighth seed Iga Swiatek, 10th seed Emma Navarro and 11th seed Elena Rybakina.

It comes after 16 seeded players tumbled out of the women's singles draw in the opening three days with nine top-10 seeds across the men's and women's singles draws out.

It is just the second time in the Open era that only one of the five top-seeded players – Aryna Sabalenka in this case - has made it through to the third round of the women's singles at a Grand Slam event.

It leaves the women's draw open for a potential surprise victor to take the Venus Rosewater Dish at the end of the fortnight, with the last seven women's singles titles going to different players.

Serena Williams was the last player to successfully defend the trophy, winning back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016.

World number one Sabalenka said after her second-round win that she had put other top seeds' early exits out of her mind.

That mentality seems to be one that has been adopted in the locker room at SW19 on Thursday as the top seeds made it safely through.

Former champion Rybakina secured an impressive 6-3 6-1 victory over Greek world number 77 Maria Sakkari after teenager Andreeva beat Italy's Lucia Bronzetti 6-1 7-6 (7-4) and American Navarro cruised past Veronika Kudermetova 6-1 6-2.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek later secured her place in round three with a 5-7 6-2 6-1 win over American Caty McNally, ranked 208 in the world.

Elsewhere, Zeynep Sonmez made history to become the first Turkish player to reach the third round of an Open-era Grand Slam, beating Wang Xinyu 7-5 7-5.

Krejcikova 'feeling good' after 'difficult' six months

Having watched fellow seeded players tumble out, world number 10 Navarro said after her win that "it is kind of anyone's tournament" and will hope she can include herself in that conversation.

But she faces a tough task in the defending champion Krejcikova next.

Last year's winner has endured a tumultuous six months and was playing just her eighth match of the year on Thursday, having missed much of the season with a back injury.

She had to pull out of Eastbourne with a thigh problem last week but expressed her joy at being back at Wimbledon following her opening-round win and seems to come alive at the All England Club with a game suited to the grass courts.

This time on the smaller, more intimate court two, having opened play on Centre Court on Tuesday, she came back from 3-1 in the first set against Dolehide, winning four games in a row to wrestle back control.

After world number 62 Dolehide levelled, Krejcikova responded by landing the decisive break in the sixth game of the third set before serving out the match.

"Definitely a huge relief," she said.

"[I am] really happy and grateful to be here playing matches and feeing good and healthy. The last six to eight months were really difficult for me, really grateful to be here playing tennis and to keep going."