Garbiñe Muguruza was the defending champion, but lost in the second round to Alison Van Uytvanck. This was the earliest exit of the defending champion since Steffi Graf's first round defeat in 1994.[1]Angelique Kerber won her third Grand Slam singles title, defeating Serena Williams in the final, 6–3, 6–3. Kerber became the first German since Graf in 1996 to lift the trophy.[2] Williams was attempting to equal Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles.Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki and Sloane Stephens were in contention for the WTA No. 1 singles ranking at the start of the tournament. Halep retained the No. 1 ranking after Wozniacki and Stephens lost in the second and first rounds, respectively.[3]With all top ten seeds losing before the quarterfinals, it was the worst overall Wimbledon performance of the top ten women's seeds in the Open Era.[4][5] This was also the first time in the Open Era that none of the top four women's singles seeds reached the fourth round at Wimbledon.