World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is the only one of the five top-seeded women left in the fray after last year’s runner-up and World No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, World No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 5 Zheng Qinwen all bowed out of Wimbledon.

Two points away from dropping the opening set of her second-round match three times on Wednesday, Sabalenka bounced back with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Marie Bouzkova. “That was a tough moment,” said Sabalenka, who will face 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu next.

“Until that point, my return wasn’t great enough to break her serve. I’m really glad … everything clicked together and I was able to break her back. I kind of like felt a little bit better.” Sabalenka’s tough resistance sent them to a tiebreaker where, from 4-all, Sabalenka took the next three points and won the set with a powerful forehand return off a 67 mph second serve.

A record-tying 23 seeded players, including 10 women and 13 men, exited the grass-court Grand Slam tournament by the end of Day 2, thereby equalling the most at any Grand Slam event in the past 25 years. Five more seeded players continued with their losing streak on Wednesday, including Paolini, No. 12 Diana Shnaider, No. 21 Beatriz Haddad Maia, No. 22 Donna Vekic and No. 29 Leylah Fernandez.

“I hope it’s no upsets anymore in this tournament, if you know what I mean,” said Sabalenka, a three-time Grand Slam champion. All these titles, however, came on hard courts at the Australian Open or US Open. She was also the runner-up to Gauff at French Open last month, but has not been able to go past the semifinals at Wimbledon. Sabalenka had to skip Wimbledon a year ago because of an injured shoulder.

Meanwhile, Raducanu defeated 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-3, and Australian Open champion Madison Keys, seeded sixth, beat Olga Danilovic 6-4, 6-2. In men’s singles, two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz extended his winning streak to 20 matches with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 733rd-ranked qualifier Oliver Tarvet. No. 5 Taylor Fritz defeated Gabriel Diallo of Canada 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-3 for his second consecutive five-set win. But No. 12 Frances Tiafoe was shown the door by 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Cam Norrie, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.