French players have beaten some of tennis' biggest superstars including Serena Williams and Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon

French players have knocked out some big names in tennis from Wimbledon this year
French players have knocked out some big names in tennis from Wimbledon this year

This year's Wimbledon saw some of tennis' biggest female superstars being eliminated in the first week. These include Serena Williams, Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu, among others.

Williams was eliminated in the first round, Raducanu in the second, and Swiatek in the third. The one similarity in all their defeats is that they all lost to French opposition.

Former World No. 1 Williams faced World No. 115 Harmony Tan in the first round, with the Frenchwoman winning 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(7). This was the second successive year the American bowed out in the opening round of the grass court Major.

Raducanu booked her place in the second round after beating Alison van Uytvanck. Here, she was up against Caroline Garcia, who beat her 6-3, 6-3.

Swiatek entered Wimbledon having won 35 consecutive matches and six titles, including the French Open and four WTA 1000 tournaments. The Pole beat Jana Fett and Lesley Kerkhove to extend her winning streak to 37 matches. Her run finally came to an end with a 4-6, 2-6 defeat to Alize Cornet.

After the match, Cornet said that she was proud to beat Swiatek and couldn't believe that she was the one to break the Pole's winning streak.

"It's a big pride for me to win this match against Iga," Cornet was quoted as saying by the WTA official website. "I mean, what she's done this year is out of this world, and I can't believe I'm the one that actually broke the streak. This is amazing. I'm very happy to be in the second week again for the second time."

With the win over Swiatek, Cornet reached the second week of Wimbledon for the first time since 2014, when she beat Serena Williams, also in the third round.


Three Frenchwomen are in the last 16 of Wimbledon

Alize Cornet became the third woman from France to reach the last 16 of this year's grass-court Major
Alize Cornet became the third woman from France to reach the last 16 of this year's grass-court Major

Three women from France will be competing in the last 16 of Wimbledon, which is a joint-record in the Open Era, tied with 1997, 1999 and 2005.

Cornet, Garcia and Tan have looked in good touch lately and all three stand a chance of reaching the quarterfinals of the competition.

Cornet will take on Ajla Tomljanovic, who came back from a set down to beat Barbora Krejcikova. Tan faces a tough task as she will lock horns with 20th seed Amanda Anisimova, while Garcia's opponent in the last 16 is Czech Republic's Marie Bouzkova.

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Edited by Anirudh Velamuri
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