Rybakina fights through the wind and Siegemund into third round at Wimbledon

Elena Rybakina, for some reason, appears to be flying under the radar at Wimbledon in 2024. As the only remaining women’s singles champion currently left in the draw, you’d think she’d be getting more attention.

Never mind, the Kazakhstani likes to go about her work quietly, and she did that on No.2 Court on Thursday, battling past tricky German Laura Siegemund, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, to reach the third round at Wimbledon.

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If you’re scoring at home, that victory brings Rybakina’s record to 16-2 at the All England Club, where a third-round match with either Leylah Fernandez or Caroline Wozniacki looms.

Rybakina needed two hours and 12 minutes to dispatch Siegemund, behind 29 winners and 46 unforced errors in a messy contest that saw her face 13 break points against the 36-year-old from Filderstadt, Germany.

“It’s always tough to play against Laura,” Rybakina said. “For some reason every time we play it’s super windy on the court. It’s been a tough one and I’m really happy that I managed to win and hopefully in the next match it’s going to be more solid from my side.”

Rybakina had unideal preparations for Wimbledon this year, as she pulled out of her second-round match at Berlin due to illness and skipped out on Eastbourne for scheduling purposes. She has missed a lot of time in 2024 due to various illnesses, but appears to be in good health this week at Wimbledon.

Add to that the confidence that comes with being the only remaining Wimbledon champ in the draw, and we have something to build on.

“Of course it gives confidence,” she says of her title in 2022, “but every match is different, even in 2022 I had some tough matches, just going forward in the draw.”

The Kazakh won against Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse (6-3, 6-1) in the previous round of The Championships.

In the previous round of The Championships, Siegemund, ranked No 72, won against Ukrainian Kateryna Baindl (6-4, 6-1).

Londres (Grand Slam), other second-round results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 50.000.000, most recent results first):

• Caroline Wozniacki vs. Leylah Fernandez: thursday
• Elina Avanesyan vs. Liudmila Samsonova: thursday
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Petra Martic: 6-4, 6-3
• Bernarda Pera beat Caroline Garcia (23): 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Elina Svitolina (21) beat Jule Niemeier: 6-3, 6-4
• Danielle Collins (11) beat Dalma Galfi (Q): 6-3, 6-4
• Jelena Ostapenko (13) beat Daria Snigur (Q): 6-3, 6-0
• Ons Jabeur (10) beat Robin Montgomery (Q): 6-1, 7-5
• Anna Kalinskaya (17) beat Marie Bouzkova: 6-4, 6-1
• Xinyu Wang beat Jessica Pegula (5): 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-1
• Harriet Dart beat Katie Boulter (32): 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8)
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (20) beat Camila Osorio: 3-0 ret.
• Madison Keys (12) beat Yafan Wang: 6-2, 6-2
• Marta Kostyuk (18) beat Daria Saville: 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4
• Daria Kasatkina (14) beat Yuriko Lily Miyazaki (WC): 6-0, 6-0
• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro beat Cristina Bucsa: 7-6 (1), 6-3
• Yulia Putintseva beat Katerina Siniakova (27): 6-0, 4-6, 6-2
• Paula Badosa beat Brenda Fruhvirtova: 6-4, 6-2
• Barbora Krejcikova (31) beat Katie Volynets (Q): 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5)
• Jasmine Paolini (7) beat Greet Minnen: 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Dayana Yastremska (28) beat Varvara Gracheva: 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Lulu Sun (Q) beat Yulia Starodubtseva (Q): 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Donna Vekic beat Erika Andreeva (LL): 6-2, 6-3
• Lin Zhu beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (25): 6-4, 6-3
• Emma Navarro (19) beat Naomi Osaka (WC): 6-4, 6-1
• Maria Sakkari (9) beat Arantxa Rus: 7-5, 6-3
• Diana Shnaider beat Sloane Stephens: 6-1, 6-1
• Emma Raducanu (WC) beat Elise Mertens: 6-1, 6-2
• Bianca Andreescu beat Linda Noskova (26): 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Coco Gauff (2) beat Anca Todoni (Q): 6-2, 6-1
• Sonay Kartal (Q) beat Clara Burel: 6-3, 5-7, 6-3