Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts after winning a point against Emma Raducanu of Britain during a third round women's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

LONDON — This most unpredictable of Wimbledons delivered yet another surprise Friday when reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, the No. 6 seed, was a lopsided loser in the third round, eliminated 6-3, 6-3 by 104th-ranked Laura Siegemund of Germany.

Keys’ exit left just one of the top six women in the bracket before the end of Week 1: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who stuck around by claiming the last five games and defeating 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu of Britain 7-6 (6), 6-4 at a boisterous Centre Court at night.

No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 4 Jasmine Paolini and No. 5 Zheng Qinwen already were out. The men’s field also has seen its share of surprises, including a Wimbledon-record 13 seeds gone in the first round.

“At times, it wasn’t the best quality, let’s say. But I managed, and in the end, it’s just important to find solutions and I did that well. Kept my nerves in the end,” Siegemund said, then added with a laugh: “There are always nerves. If you don’t have nerves in this moment, you’re probably dead.”

Wimbledon might be the only Grand Slam event where Keys hasn’t reached at least the semifinals, but she has participated in the quarterfinals there twice and is enjoying a breakthrough 2025, including her title at Melbourne Park in January.

Keys’ power vs. Siegemund’s spins and slices offered quite a contrast in styles, and this outcome was surprisingly one-way traffic on a windy afternoon at No. 2 Court. The key statistic, undoubtedly, was this: Keys made 31 unforced errors, 20 more than Siegemund.

When it ended with one last backhand return from Keys that sailed wide, Siegemund smiled broadly, raised her arms and jumped up and down repeatedly.

“You can’t not be happy when you beat a great player like Madison,” Siegemund said.

How unexpected is this for Siegemund? Before this year, her career record at the All England Club was 2-5, and she’d never made it past the second round. Taking into account all four Grand Slam tournaments, she had reached the third round only once in 28 previous appearances, getting to the quarterfinals at the 2020 French Open.

“There is technically no pressure for me,” said Siegemund, at 37 the oldest woman remaining in the tournament. “I try to remember that I only play for myself.”

On Sunday, the German faces another participant no one could have predicted would be at this stage of the grass-court major: 101st-ranked Solana Sierra of Argentina, who lost in qualifying and made it into the main draw when another player withdrew.

Friday wrapup

Ben Shelton played for all of four points and about a minute, wrapping up his second-round match against Rinky Hijikata that was suspended Thursday night.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round by beating Jan-Lennard Struff in four sets.

Other men’s seeds advancing were No. 5 Taylor Fritz, No. 14 Andrey Rublev and No. 17 Karen Khachanov. In the women’s draw, four-time major title winner Naomi Osaka’s Wimbledon ended in the third round for the third time, eliminated by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. No. 13 Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. advanced to the fourth round, as did No. 24 Elise Mertens and No. 30 Linda Noskova.

Saturday setup

Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek will take on Danielle Collins at Centre Court — who could forget their testy exchange at the Paris Olympics? — while No. 1 Jannik Sinner and 24-time major champ Novak Djokovic also are involved in matches at the main stadium.

Two American women will be in action at No. 1 Court: Hailey Baptiste faces No. 7 Mirra Andreeva of Russia, and No. 10 Emma Navarro plays defending champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic.

For his memory

LONDON — Nuno Borges had hoped to wear a Diogo Jota soccer jersey onto the court for his match at Wimbledon on Friday, but he settled for a black ribbon on his hat instead.

The All England Club has a strict all-white dress code for players while on court, but permission to wear the ribbon was granted after Jota and his brother were killed in a car crash in Spain.

Family and friends of the Liverpool forward and his brother gathered at a chapel where their bodies were brought for a wake on Friday, a day after the fatal crash.

Borges, who at No. 37 is Portugal’s highest-ranked tennis player, told the PA news agency that his agent contacted Wimbledon about the idea of wearing Jota’s national team jersey as a tribute, but it wasn’t approved. Tournament officials did not immediately comment late Friday.

Borgest lost his third-round match to Karen Khachanov in five sets.

A good deal

LONDON — It might just be the best deal in all of major professional sports.

Tennis fans can get a chance to watch stars such as Carlos Alcaraz compete on Centre Court at Wimbledon by forking over just 15 pounds — about $20 at the current exchange rate. That’s instead of a top price Friday of nearly $220 at the stadium.

The secret to saving so much cash? The official resale service. It allows anyone already on-site with a ticket to sign up via the Wimbledon app for a daily lottery to get into one of the biggest three courts at a cut rate. Those spots are offered up by spectators who leave the biggest courts before play ends.