Simona Halep stunned by Hsieh Su-wei in Wimbledon third round

World number one and French Open champion Simona Halep was knocked out of Wimbledon on Saturday, losing to Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the third round.

Hsieh, the world number 48, battled back from 2-5 down in the final set and halted Halep who served for the match at 5-3 in the decider.

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It will be Hsieh’s first appearance in the last 16 of a Slam where she will face Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia for a place in the quarter-finals.

“It’s my first win against a world number one,” said 26-year-old Hsieh.

“It’s amazing. I was 2-5 down in the final set but the crowd pushed me to fight.”

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Ostapenko, Kasatkina win

East European 21-year-olds Jelena Ostapenko and Daria Kasatkina carried the flag for the Wimbledon seeds with straight-set victories on Court Three that took them through to the fourth round on Saturday.

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Twelfth seed Ostapenko, already a Grand Slam winner at the French Open in 2017 but who was upset in the opening round as holder at Roland Garros this year, beat Russian Vitalia Diatchenko 6-0 6-4 to stay on course to better her quarter-final place last year.

Kasatkina, the number 14 who reached the French Open quarter-finals, won a tighter battle between seeds when she overcame Australian Ashleigh Barty (17) 7-5 6-3 for her best performance so far at Wimbledon.

The draw opened up for these young pretenders when only two of the top eight women’s seeds reached the third round, a record in the Open era.

Kerber also advances

Former finalist Angelique Kerber struck 23 winners in a 6-2 6-4 win over Japan’s Naomi Osaka to reach the second week at Wimbledon for a third year in a row.

Kerber will next meet Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, who ousted 27th seed Carla Suarez Navarro earlier on Saturday.

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“I tried to play my game, be aggressive, and enjoy being on Centre Court,” the 30-year-old German said. “It is magical to play in front of the amazing fans here.

“I am just trying to focus on myself, every round trying to play better and improve my level, and enjoy the time on and off the court.”