Wimbledon 2026 LIVE: Serena and Venus Williams forced to cancel doubles comeback at last minute

Serena Williams’ Wimbledon comeback has been brought to a premature end after the 44-year-old was forced to withdraw from her first-round doubles match with sister Venus Williams due to a knee injury.

“I’m heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles,” Williams posted on Instagram. “Coming back to compete again has been a gift, and the opportunity to play alongside Venus once more meant the world to me. I did everything I could to be ready, but unfortunately my knee just isn’t ready to compete.

“I’m especially grateful to tournament director, Jamie Baker, and the entire tournament team for giving me every opportunity to play here. Thank you to the fans for your incredible support and for making this comeback so meaningful…All I can say is stay tuned to a city near you…

“The photo of the syringes shows the fluid they drained from my knee after my singles match…yikes! The good news is my knee shouldn’t swell or collect that much fluid again. The bad news is that, as hard as I tried, I just wasn’t able to get it ready for doubles.”

Alexandra Eala made more history for the Philippines as the 21-year-old rising star stunned defending Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek to extend her record run to the fourth round.

Eala, the 29th seed, won 7-6 6-2 in two hours and 14 minutes for the biggest win of her blossoming career as well as the most significant upset of this year’s Championships.

Eala won a titanic 85-minute first set on Centre Court, saving set points as she won the tiebreak 11-9, before breaking an increasingly erratic Swiatek twice in quick succession to seize control.

Despite getting one of the breaks back and saving the first two match points, Swiatek was unable to stop the slide, making more than 40 unforced errors across the match as the Polish star exited Wimbledon in the third round for the third time in five years.

Iga Swiatek’s fifth double fault of the match is followed by a forehand error into the net… Swiatek then puts an overhead long and Eala will serve for the match!

Another horrible game from Swiatek.

Iga Swiatek is not going down without a fight. The defending champion gets one of the breaks back, as she goes back to attacking the Alexandra Eala second serve.

A second break for Alexandra Eala! Iga Swiatek is struggling, but Eala is producing the goods! She whips a couple of beautiful left-handed passing shots out of Swiatek’s reach, and moves three games away.

An immediate break of serve to start the second set as Iga Swiatek puts two forehands in a row long to concede the game to love.

The defending champion is in serious trouble.

Arthur Fery, Britain’s last singles players standing and back on Court 18, looked to be putting the pressure on against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in the early stages of the first set, and had a look at break points.

Bergs, though, dominates the first set to lead the wildcard on Court 18. The world No 37 takes the opener 6-2.

Alexandra Eala wins an absolute EPIC first set on Centre Court against Iga Swiatek, 11-9 in the tiebreak after 85 minutes! Both players had set points in the decider, as it swung this way and that. As Swiatek’s final forehand drops long, Eala raises her arms and soaks in the roars!

This has been an incredible battle, with Eala attacking Swiatek’s serve and holding her own from the baseline. She had set point earlier in the set but it looked as if defending champion Swiatek was staging a comeback. Eala, though, keeps her cool to convert her fourth set point in a thrilling breaker.

Is the upset on?

Former champion and second seed Elena Rybakina is out of Wimbledon after a third-round defeat to Elise Mertens in the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

Rybakina, the women’s singles champion in 2022 and this season’s Australian Open champion, had won her previous six matches against the Belgian 25th seed Mertens, but was beaten 7-6 6-1 on Court No 1.

The 27-year-old arrived at Wimbledon following a difficult run of form, including a second-round defeat in Berlin to wildcard Alexandra Eala and a quarter-final defeat to Katie Boulter at Queen’s.

Rybakina, who won her second grand slam title by beating Aryna Sabalenka to win the Australian Open in January, also suffered a second-round defeat at last month’s French Open, losing to the unseeded Yuliia Starodubtseva.

Iga Swiatek had break point for the chance to serve for the second but fails to take it as the 21-year-old Alexandra Eala holds with a clutch serve down the middle. The 29th seed is turning this into a real battle on Centre Court and it could be going to a first-set tiebreak.