6 Jul 2018

Wimbledon: Defending champ bundled out

8:31 am on 6 July 2018

Garbine Muguruza's Wimbledon title defence was hijacked by Alison van Uytvanck as the little-known Belgian produced a fearless brand of hard-hitting tennis to topple the champion with a 5-7 6-2 6-1 victory in the second round at the All England Club.

Garbine Muguruza

Garbine Muguruza Photo: Photosport

Muguruza came from a break down to survive a nervy first set but there was no let off in the next two and the third seed was left shaking her head in disbelief as van Uytvanck bombarded her court with serves that often clocked at over 110mph, with the fastest recorded at 115 mph.

But it was not just the serve that caused Muguruza mayhem. She slipped and fell over heavily on her shoulder while chasing down a van Uytvanck drop shot as the final set ran away from her in the blink of an eye, with a netted serve ending her challenge.

The Spaniard suffered the earliest exit of a defending champion at the All England Club since Steffi Graf was beaten in the first round in 1994.

-Reuters