Paolini is no longer among the top players amid Djokovic's historic victory at Wimbledon 2025

Seven-time winner at Wimbledon Novak Djokovic became the first man in the Open era to reach the third round in the men's singles at the All England Lawn Tennis Club for the 19th time after overcoming Dan Evans, 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 at Center Court today. Djokovic achieved his 99th win at the championships overall and reached the third round for the 19th time, the highest men's performance in the Open age.

Legendary player Roger Federer had entered the third round 18 times. However, this is hardly a prestigious record for 38-year-old Djokovic, who has won a total of 24 Grand Slam titles including seven Wimbledons, a record among men's players. Djokovic said that nineteen times, it is a great figure. It is probably equal to the age of Sinner and Alcaraz. Alcaraz, who defeated Djokovic in the last two Wimbledon finals, is 22, while world number one Sinner is 23.

At the same time, Wimbledon 2025 saw another big upset in the women's singles, when last time's runner-up and fourth seed Jasmine Paolini was knocked out in the second round by unseeded Russian player Kamila Rakhimova 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. With this defeat, Paolini has become the fourth player among the top five seeded players to exit the tournament early. Earlier, second seed Coco Gauff, third seed Jessica Pegula and fifth seed Zheng Qinwen have already been eliminated in the first round.

Only Arina Sabalenka remains among the top five seeded players. There was another upset in the women's draw on Wednesday when 12th seed Diana Schneider was defeated by Diane Parry 6-4, 6-1. At the same time, 22nd seed Donna Vekic, who lost to Paolini in the semi-finals last year, was knocked out by Cristina Bucsa 6-1, 6-3. Paolini achieved the double of reaching the final at the French Open and at Wimbledon last year, but hasn't progressed beyond the fourth round at any Grand Slam since then.

This is the second appearance at Wimbledon for 23-year-old Kamila Rakhimova. She lost in the first round in 2023. In the men's singles itself, fifth seed Taylor Fritz defeated Canada's Gabriel Diallo 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3 to register his second consecutive five-set win. But No. 12 Frances Tiafoe also joined the list of seeded players to be eliminated. He was defeated by 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Cam Norrie 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.

India's N Sriram Balaji made it to the second round of men's doubles on Thursday. India's Yuki Bhambri and Ritwik Bolipalli have already reached the second round. World No. 74 Balaji and his Mexican partner Miguel Reyes Varela defeated the American pair of Lerner TN and Alexander Kovacevic 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round match. The match lasted for 71 minutes and the Indian and Mexican pair won the match by breaking their opponents' serve once in both sets.

However, Balaji and Reyes Varela will not have an easy road in the second round as they will face the fourth seeded pair of Spain's Marcel Granollers and Argentina's Horacio Zeballos. Yuki and Bolipalli won their respective opening round matches on Wednesday while Rohan Bopanna was eliminated in the first round itself.