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Lautaro Martínez Scores Twice and Argentina Playing without Messi Beats Peru 2-0 to End Group Play

Lautaro Martínez (2-R) of Argentina takes a shot on goal against Peru during the CONMEBOL Copa America 2024 group A match between Argentina and Peru, in Miami, Florida, USA, 29 June 2024. (EPA)
Lautaro Martínez (2-R) of Argentina takes a shot on goal against Peru during the CONMEBOL Copa America 2024 group A match between Argentina and Peru, in Miami, Florida, USA, 29 June 2024. (EPA)
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Lautaro Martínez Scores Twice and Argentina Playing without Messi Beats Peru 2-0 to End Group Play

Lautaro Martínez (2-R) of Argentina takes a shot on goal against Peru during the CONMEBOL Copa America 2024 group A match between Argentina and Peru, in Miami, Florida, USA, 29 June 2024. (EPA)
Lautaro Martínez (2-R) of Argentina takes a shot on goal against Peru during the CONMEBOL Copa America 2024 group A match between Argentina and Peru, in Miami, Florida, USA, 29 June 2024. (EPA)

Lautaro Martínez scored twice and Argentina, playing without the injured Lionel Messi, wrapped up Copa America group play with a 2-0 win over Peru on Saturday night.

A nicely placed through ball from Ángel Di María led to Martínez's first goal in the 47th minute. Martínez was embraced by teammates afterward, then went to hug Messi, who was standing near Argentina's bench.

"I went to hug Leo for everything he means to us," Martínez said through an interpreter.

Martínez doubled Argentina’s lead in the 86th minute and now has a tournament-leading four goals.

"Every time I wear this shirt I enjoy it," Martínez said. "Many want to wear this shirt. I work to show the coach that I am ready to play when he needs me."

Messi did not play as he nurses a leg injury suffered in Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Chile on Tuesday that clinched a quarterfinal berth for the defending champions. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was also absent after being suspended because of his team’s late second-half return to the pitch in its previous two Copa matches.

Saturday, the Albiceleste walked out for the second half just a few seconds before Peru.

Argentina assistant Walter Samuel, who took Scaloni's place, said after the match that Messi is still day to day.

"I talked to him, and he’s getting better," Samuel said through an interpreter, "but it’s been just a couple of days and it’s too early to tell. We want to continue to listen to him and the doctors."

Playing with nine changes to its starting lineup, Argentina controlled possession (74%) for the third straight match and had six shots on goal, while being held scoreless in the first half for the third straight match.

The game was played in front of about 64,000 fans at the Miami Dolphins' Hard Rock Stadium, which will also host the final on July 14. Most fans cheered for Argentina while wearing different versions of Messi's No. 10 jersey.

Canada played Chile to a scoreless draw in another Group A match on Saturday in Orlando, Florida, to also advance to the next round, which will be the country's first Copa America quarterfinal.

Argentina will learn its knockout stage opponent when Group B finishes on Sunday. Group leader Venezuela plays Jamaica at Austin, Texas, and second-place Ecuador plays Mexico at Glendale, Arizona.

Argentina will face the runner-up of Group B on Thursday at Houston.

Nicolás Tagliafico appeared to score for Argentina in the 55th minute after tapping in the ball at the back post, but the officials ruled that goaltender Pedro Gallese, who made four saves, was blocked and the goal was disallowed.

Argentina had another chance when the team was awarded a penalty after a handball in the box by Jesús Castillo. But Leandro Paredes blasted the ball into the right post, and the score remained 1-0.

Argentina, aiming for a record 16th Copa America title, won all three of its matches in group play. Goaltender Emiliano Martínez did not allow a goal in the round and made six saves. Argentina hoisted the championship trophy in 2021 after beating Brazil 1-0 in the title game.

Peru was held without a goal Saturday for the third game of the tournament and has no goals in 11 of its last 14 matches. Peru played a scoreless draw against Chile in its Copa America opener, then lost 1-0 to Canada. The team reached the semifinals in 2021 before losing to Brazil.

"I believe that Peru’s performance today was the weakest of all three games," Peru coach Jorge Fossati said through an interpreter.

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No. 1 Iga Swiatek Loses in Wimbledon's Third Round to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan

Iga Swiatek of Poland reacts during her third round loss to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP)
Iga Swiatek of Poland reacts during her third round loss to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP)
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No. 1 Iga Swiatek Loses in Wimbledon's Third Round to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan

Iga Swiatek of Poland reacts during her third round loss to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP)
Iga Swiatek of Poland reacts during her third round loss to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP)

After putting one shot into the net, Iga Swiatek muttered to herself. After another point went awry, she placed her hand over her mouth. Generally, she looked as flustered as she ever does on a tennis court.

Once again, she went from unbeatable on the French Open's red clay to underwhelming on Wimbledon's green grass.

The No. 1-ranked Swiatek's 21-match winning streak ended with a listless performance and a slew of mistakes on Saturday, adding up to a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 loss to unseeded Yulia Putintseva in the third round at the All England Club.

“Going from this kind of tennis, where I felt like I’m playing the best tennis in my life, to another surface, where I kind of struggle a little bit more, it’s not easy,” said Swiatek, who only once has made it as far as the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, exiting at that stage a year ago. “All that stuff really combines to me not really having a good time in Wimbledon.”

Never does. In 2022, for example, her 37-match unbeaten run was stopped with another third-round loss at the All England Club, that one to Alize Cornet.

Swiatek, a 23-year-old from Poland, is a five-time Grand Slam champion, including four titles at Roland Garros — most recently last month — and one on the hard courts at the US Open. She has talked about looking forward to improving on grass, but she decided to withdraw last month from the only tuneup event that was originally on her schedule before Wimbledon.

Not that Swiatek thinks that was the issue against the 35th-ranked Putintseva.

On the contrary, Swiatek described herself as not giving herself enough of a chance to rest after the French Open.

“My tank of really pushing myself to the limits became, suddenly, empty,” she said. “I was kind of surprised.”

After a ho-hum first set, Swiatek faded against Putintseva, making mistake after mistake.

Swiatek not only won all four previous meetings against Putintseva, but also claimed every set they had played. Asked during a postmatch interview on No. 1 Court how she managed to emerge with the victory, the often-animated Putintseva replied: “I don’t know. Really, I don’t.”

Well, here is at least one key part of what happened: Swiatek looked very little like someone who has led the WTA rankings for nearly every week since April 2022 and is assured of remaining there no matter what happens the rest of the way at Wimbledon.

Still, this was her characterization of this week: “I felt like I underachieved a little bit. But it’s tennis, so you have to move on. I’ll have many more chances this year to show my game. I’ll just focus on that.”

Putintseva is on an eight-match run of her own, all on grass, including a title at Birmingham before arriving in London. This is the first time in 10 appearances at Wimbledon that the 29-year-old from Kazakhstan made it past the second round.

Her best showing at any Slam was getting to the quarterfinals at the French Open twice and US Open once.

“I was playing fearless. I was just: ‘I can do it. I have to believe 100%. I have nothing to lose. Just go for it,’” Putintseva said at her news conference. “Also, my coach told me, ‘No matter which shot you’re doing, believe 100%.’”

When she was building a 4-0 lead in the last set by grabbing 16 of its first 19 points, Putintseva only needed to produce two winners. Her other 14 points in that span were gained thanks to either unforced errors (seven) or forced errors (seven) off Swiatek’s racket.

By the end, Swiatek had accumulated 38 unforced errors, more than twice as many as her opponent's 15.

Next up for Putintseva is a matchup against 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who is seeded 13th. Also moving into the fourth round were 2022 Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina, 2021 French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova, No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya, No. 21 Elina Svitolina and unseeded Wang Xinyu.

Svitolina advanced with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 10 Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, including at Wimbledon each of the past two years.

Among the men’s winners were No. 4 Alexander Zverev, whose left knee was treated by a trainer after a second-set tumble while eliminating Cam Norrie 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (15), along with 2021 US Open champ Daniil Medvedev, No. 9 Alex de Minaur, No. 14 Ben Shelton, No. 16 Ugo Humbert, Arthur Fils, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Roberto Bautista Agut.

Shelton’s 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Denis Shapovalov in a meeting between two big-serving left-handers was the 21-year-old American’s third consecutive five-set win, the first player to do that at Wimbledon since Ernests Gulbis in 2018.

No man in the Open era (which dates to 1968) has ever won four matches in a row in five sets at any major tournament.

Shelton was a semifinalist at last year's US Open and is coached by his father, Bryan, who got to the fourth round at Wimbledon as a player in 1994.

“We’re back, big dog!” Ben shouted over to Dad afterward.

Shelton’s opponent Sunday is No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

There already have been 33 five-set matches through one week of play, the most ever at any Slam in the Open era. The most for an entire tournament in that span is 35.