LONDON — Aryna Sabalenka joked that she’d love it if the upsets at Wimbledon would stop, which makes sense, given that she is ranked No. 1.

She’s also the only one of the five top-seeded women still in the bracket after No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, last year’s runner-up, followed No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 5 Zheng Qinwen were ousted.

Sabalenka was two points from dropping the opening set of her second-round match three times on Wednesday before asserting herself for a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Marie Bouzkova.

In all, a record-tying 23 seeded players — 10 women, 13 men — were gone by the end of Day 2, equaling the most at any Grand Slam event in the past 25 years. Five more women joined them by losing Wednesday: Paolini, No. 12 Diana Shnaider, No. 21 Beatriz Haddad Maia, No. 22 Donna Vekic and No. 29 Leylah Fernandez.

“Of course you’re going to know the overall picture,” Sabalenka said, then added with a chuckle: “I hope it’s no upsets anymore in this tournament, if you know what I mean.”

Sabalenka missed Wimbledon last year because of an injured shoulder.

On Wednesday, the record-breaking heat of the first two days gave way to rain that delayed the start of play on smaller courts for about two hours, along with temperatures that dropped from above 90 degrees to below 68.

Sabalenka next faces Emma Raducanu, who defeated 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-3.

Also, Madison Keys, who is seeded sixth, beat Olga Danilovic 6-4, 6-2.

ALCARAZ tops TARVET

For one game at least, it looked like Carlos Alcaraz could be in for another surprisingly tough encounter on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

But after saving three break points in his opening service game against 733rd-ranked Ollie Tarvet, things got a bit more comfortable for the defending champion, who saw out a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 second-round win over the unheralded collegiate player from Britain.

While he had to face another eight break points along the way — saving all but two — it was a considerably smoother win than his 4½ hour, five-set victory over Fabio Fognini in the opening round.

Still, Alcaraz couldn’t help but be impressed with the University of San Diego student playing in his first Grand Slam tournament.

“I just love his game to be honest,” Alcaraz said. “I knew at the beginning that I had to be really focused and try to play my best tennis.”

For Tarvet, it ends a memorable first Grand Slam experience. He got into the tournament through qualifying and then beat Leandro Riedi of Switzerland in the first round to earn a chance to walk out on Centre Court alongside the defending champion.

“I think I did a pretty good job of kind of enjoying the moment and trying to also play some good tennis at the same time,” Tarvet said. “I’ve played against some really good players before, but not quite the level of Alcaraz.”

In other men’s action on Wednesday, No. 5 Taylor Fritz overcame a bloodied elbow — sustained after diving to reach a ball — to defeat Gabriel Diallo of Canada 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-3. No. 12 Frances Tiafoe was eliminated by Cam Norrie 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.