Wimbledon 2024: Jessica Pegula, Hubert Hurkacz exit early; Novak Djokovic advances

July 5 (UPI) -- Jessica Pegula and Hubert Hurkacz were among the latest tennis stars to exit early at Wimbledon 2024. Pegula was bounced from through an upset loss, while Hurkacz retired during match point due to a knee injury.

No. 33 Wang Xinyu of China was responsible for Pegula's early exit. She broke Pegula's serve six times and fired 38 winners in a 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-1 second-round triumph over the world No. 5 Thursday in London.

"It was a tough match," Wang said in her on-court interview. "Jessica was really tough to play on grass. Her ball was super low and I'm just really happy I won in the end."

Wang, who picked up her first win over a Top 10 player, will make her first third-round appearance at Wimbledon. She will face No. 100 Harriet Dart of Great Britain on Saturday at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

The winner of the Wang-Dart match will meet No. 10 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia or No. 21 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the fourth round.

Pegula edged Wang 7-4 in aces, but converted 3 of 7 break point opportunities. The American, who made the Wimbledon 2023 quarterfinals, still has yet to advance past that round at a Grand Slam.

Jabeur advanced to the third round with a straight-sets victory over No. 161 Robin Montgomery of the United States. Svitolina also beat No. 90 Jule Niemeier in straight sets.

No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 4 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and No. 11 Danielle Collins of the United States were among the other top women to advance on Day 4 of the grass court major.

With Pegula's exit, just six of the Top 10 women's players remain in the singles circuit. Just seven of the Top 10 men's players remain active at Wimbledon.

Hurkacz, of Poland, was the latest top player to exit. The world No. 7 retired in the fourth set of his second-round match against No. 34 Arthur Fils of France.

He withdrew from the match after injuring his right knee during a tiebreak in the fourth set. He opted to retire just after Fils, who was leading the tiebreak 9-8, earned a second match point opportunity.

Fils will face No. 44 Roman Safiullin of Russia in the third round. Safiullin beat No. 39 Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic in his second-round match.

No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany, No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia and No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria were the top men's players to advance on Day 4.

No. 1 Jannik Sinner, No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 5 Daniil Medvedev of Russia are the top men's players in action on Day 5.

No. 2 Coco Gauff of the United States, No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy and No. 9 Maria Sakkari of Greece will be the highest-ranked women's players active Friday in London.