Video - The bizarre point won by Svitolina against Bondar at Wimbledon

This Monday afternoon, Elina Svitolina became the first player to secure her spot in the second round at Wimbledon. Much like their encounter in the second round of Roland-Garros earlier this season, the Ukrainian prevailed over Anna Bondar (6-3, 6-1) and will now face Aliaksandra Sasnovich for a place in the round of 16.

Comfortable on grass, having already reached two semifinals in London in 2019 and 2023, Svitolina started her match against the Hungarian flawlessly with a love hold.

However, on the fourth point of the match, which sealed the first game won by the world No. 13, spectators on Court 18 witnessed an extremely rare occurrence.

Indeed, while the Ukrainian was in an attacking position, she finished with an overhead smash that would have landed out of bounds—but Bondar, standing in the ball’s path, accidentally touched it with her leg before the first bounce (see video below).

Bondar chose to laugh it off before returning to her chair for the first changeover of the match. A rare incident, though not unprecedented—Simona Halep experienced something similar at the 2019 WTA 1000 Madrid tournament against Kiki Bertens, for example.

Afterward, Svitolina remained solid and sealed her qualification without hesitation. She will now aim to at least match her performance from last year on the London grass, where she fell in the quarterfinals to Elena Rybakina.