Wimbledon 2021: Third seed Elina Svitolina advances but Sofia Kenin & Bianca Andreescu go out

Fourth and fifth seeds Sofia Kenin and Bianca Andreescu suffered shock early exits at Wimbledon, but Ukrainian third seed Elina Svitolina secured her place in the second round on Wednesday.

American Kenin lost her second-round match against compatriot Madison Brengle 6-2 6-4 in just 45 minutes.

Canada's Andreescu fell to a 6-2 6-1 first-round defeat by Alize Cornet, who sealed victory with a stunning lob.

Meanwhile, 2019 semi-finalist Svitolina beat Alison van Uytvanck 6-2 3-6 6-3.

With defending champion Simona Halep and world number two Naomi Osaka absent, and seven-time winner Serena Williams forced to withdraw through injury, defeats for Kenin and Andreescu further open up the women's singles draw in a way that has become a pattern in recent Grand Slams.

Ninth seed Belinda Bencic was another victim on Wednesday, as the Swiss, 24, fell to a 6-3 6-3 first-round defeat against 20-year-old Slovenian Kaja Juvan.

In their second-round matches, Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka had to battle back from a set down to defeat Britain's Katie Boulter 4-6 6-3 6-3, while Poland's 20-year-old 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek, seeded seventh, beat Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-1 6-3.

Eighth seed Karolina Pliskova and Spain's 2017 champion Garbine Muguruza, the 11th seed, both also reached the third round, as Pliskova overcame Croat Donna Vekic 6-2 6-2 and Muguruza won 6-1 6-4 against Dutch player Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove.

Belarusian 12th seed Victoria Azarenka - a two-time Grand Slam winner and twice semi-finalist at Wimbledon - safely reached the second round with a 6-1 6-3 win over Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova, but five-time champion Venus Williams' singles tournament is over following a 7-5 6-0 loss to Tunisian 21st seed Ons Jabeur.

World number one Ashleigh Barty contests her second-round match on Thursday.

Andreescu, 21, pulled out of the French Open last September to focus on recovering from a knee injury, which had kept her out of the Australian Open earlier in 2020, to focus on a busy 2021.

However, she had already exited Roland Garros in the first round and Australian Open in the second round this year before this latest disappointment since stunning Serena Williams to win her first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2019.

French world number 58 Cornet went a double break up against an increasingly frustrated opponent before serving out the opening set. She then established a 4-0 lead in the second, eventually capping a superb performance with a superb lob on the stretch to take her first match point.

"I felt like the beginning of the match was good. At one point she just switched gears and she was on another level," said Andreescu, whose season was also disrupted by missing tournaments in Rome and Madrid after testing positive for Covid-19.

"I could have raised my level a bit more but during the match I felt like I couldn't. I tried to stay positive the whole match, I tried to figure it out, but honestly she played really well and took control from the start."

Meanwhile, world number six Kenin won the Australian Open and reached the French Open final in a breakout 2020 season but her latest Wimbledon campaign was swiftly ended at the hands of world 82 Brengle.

The 22-year-old made a total of 41 unforced errors in an out-of-sorts performance, which followed a comfortable straight sets win over Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu in her opening match

"I really did not feel my game," said Kenin. "Of course she [Brengle] played well. Leading up to Wimbledon I didn't have enough preparation on the grass. I kind of had a minor injury leading up to Wimbledon, which is why I had to pull out of Eastbourne.

"I'm just going to get ready for doubles and whenever everything is done, I will just take some time off and get ready for the hard-court swing."

Svitolina reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time in her previous campaign in 2019, where she was beaten by eventual champion Halep.

The 26-year-old recovered from being broken in her opening service game on Court One to take the first set against world number 57 Van Uytvanck.

But the Belgian, 27, whose best run at SW19 took her to the fourth round in 2016, fought back with a double break in the second set to level the match - the first arriving after Svitolina failed to take one of two break points in the previous game.

An entertaining tussle developed in the deciding set, where Svitolina emerged with the advantage after three successive breaks before holding to lead 4-2.

The Ukrainian secured victory with a fine backhand on Van Uytvanck's serve following another exchange of breaks, and will meet Poland's Magda Linette next after she overcame American Amanda Anisimova 2-6 6-3 6-1.

"I was just happy to go on the court finally after almost two years without Wimbledon, so it's nice to be back and winning," Svitolina said.

"In important moments, I think I was calm and my shots were quite good in the end. I was happy [with] the way I was tracking the ball and that I could hold my nerves. This was very important for me today."