Svitolina joins exodus of women's seeds at Wimbledon

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina admitted she was struggling mentally with the demands of trying to win her first Grand Slam title as she joined the exodus of top seeds at Wimbledon on Thursday.

The world number five, seeded three, was beaten 6-3 6-4 in the second round by Poland's Magda Linette, meaning that six of the top 10 seeds have already departed in the women's draw.

Sofia Kenin (4) and Bianca Andreescu (5) were knocked out on Wednesday, while sixth seed Serena Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, had to retire from her first round match after slipping and injuring her leg on Tuesday.

Ninth seed Belinda Bencic and 10th seed Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, lost in round one.

Svitolina is regularly amongst the top seeds at Slams but the Ukrainian has yet to make the breakthrough many predicted.

Against Linette, who had never beaten a top-10 player before and had lost in the first round at Wimbledon four times, Svitolina lacked inspiration and admitted she was struggling mentally and that her game was not in the best shape.

Elsewhere, world number one Ash Barty moved into the third round but not without a battle as she overcame spirited Russian Anna Blinkova and her own inconsistency in a 6-4 6-3 win.

The top seed never looked in danger against the 89th-ranked Blinkova, but it was still not plain sailing for the Australian.

Barty, whose sole Grand Slam title came at the 2019 French Open, has never gone beyond the last 16 at Wimbledon.