Wimbledon 2021: Ukraine's Elina Svitolina becomes latest seed to suffer early exit

Wimbledon 2021 on the BBC
Venue: All England Club Dates: 28 June-11 July
Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. Full details here

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina became the latest women's singles seed to suffer an early exit at Wimbledon as the 2019 semi-finalist was beaten in straight sets by Poland's Magda Linette.

Third seed Svitolina, 26, who lost to eventual champion Simona Halep in the semi-finals two years ago, was beaten 6-3 6-4 in her second-round match.

Her defeat comes after fourth and fifth seeds Sofia Kenin and Bianca Andreescu exited the Championships on Wednesday.

Spain's Paula Badosa awaits Linette.

French Open quarter-finalist Badosa, 23, beat Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 6-4 6-1 earlier on day four.

In a manner that has become familiar in recent Grand Slams, the women's draw was further opened up yesterday as 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin of the US and Canada's 2019 US Open winner Andreescu were joined by Swiss ninth seed Belinda Bencic in suffering early defeats.

Seven-time winner Serena Williams has already withdrawn through injury, while defending champion Halep and world number two Naomi Osaka were both absent from the draw.

It leaves world number one Ashleigh Barty, second seed Aryna Sabalenka and 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek as the only remaining top-10 ranked players at the Grand Slam, midway through the second-round matches.