Wimbledon Day two action got underway on a sour note when eigth seed Matteo Berrettini, last year’s runner-up, became the second top player to pull out with COVID-19 after Marin Cilic’s withdrawal.
An already depleted men’s draw only got poorer when Canadian sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime was knocked out in the first round by Maxime Cressy, who fought back from a set down to prevail 6-7(5) 6-4 7-6(9) 7-6(5) in over four hours.
Rafa Nadal’s participation had been in doubt earlier this month due to a foot injury but, barring a third set wobble, he came through his first match on grass in three years to beat Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 6-4 6-3 3-6 6-4.
Nick Kyrgios provided fireworks in a five-set win over Briton Paul Jubb in a match marred by arguments with a line judge, the chair umpire and a heckler, with the Australian admitting he spat in the direction of the fan booing him.
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World number one Iga Swiatek won her 36th consecutive match to record the longest winning streak in the women’s game in the 21st century when she beat Croatia’s Jana Fett 6-0 6-3.
Former number one Simona Halep, making her first appearance at the All England Club since lifting the title in 2019, beat Karolina Muchova 6-3 6-2 while Coco Gauff overcame a first set hiccup to beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse 2-6 6-3 7-5.
Petra Kvitova, another former Wimbledon champion, was also made to work in her first round clash where she beat Jasmine Paolini 2-6 6-4 6-2.
Serena Williams’ first singles match in a year ended in a first-round defeat at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
But she still managed to bring the Centre Court crowd to its feet as they saluted a champion’s performance in a match that lasted over three hours.
Williams lost 7-5 1-6 7-6(10-7) to Harmony Tan but not before the 40-year-old American enthralled the crowd and even saved a match point before she fell in the tiebreak.
There was yet another upset on Tuesday as Chinese Qinwen Zheng reached the second round of Wimbledon by defeating American Sloane Stephens 7-6 (1), 7-5 in the fading light on Court 15.
The Chinese teenager was making her Wimbledon debut against the 2013 quarter-finalist and former world No 3. (Reuters/NAN)
