Madison Keys latest Wimbledon seed to fall after grass masterclass from Laura Siegemund

THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB, LONDON — Another tournament favorite and top seed is out of Wimbledon. Madison Keys, the Australian Open champion and No. 6 seed, fell to a performance of craft and mastery of the grass from Laura Siegemund, the German world No. 104. Siegemund won 6-3, 6-3, to set up a fourth-round meeting with lucky loser Solana Sierra.

Siegemund, a three-time Grand Slam doubles champion, bamboozled Keys into errors from all over the court, as can happen when a powerful ball striker runs into a player capable of absorbing their pace in awkward ways. But Siegemund most notably destroyed Keys’ confidence on her second serve, at times flattening out returns, at times putting drop shot winners into court. The American won just one point on her second serve, hitting 19 across the match.

Siegemund’s record was not much better, at just 37 percent, but the German was by far the steadier, hitting just 11 unforced errors to 31 logged for Keys, even though many of them were not “unforced” at all, instead induced by Siegemund’s court craft.

The defeat was reminiscent of Keys’ loss at Queen’s, the Wimbledon warmup event. She fell to Tatjana Maria, another master of slice — but more extreme than Siegemund — with Maria going on to win the title.

Keys is the 18th seed to exit the women’s draw, and her departure leaves world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka as the only top-10 seed in the top half of the draw.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Tennis, Women’s Tennis

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