By Martyn Herman
LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) – Men’s defending champion Jannik Sinner and women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka both arrived at Wimbledon with question marks hanging over them but answered the doubters on Monday with contrasting first round victories.
Italy’s Sinner, playing his first match since his shock collapse to defeat in the second round of the French Open on a boiling day in Paris, was stretched to the limit by Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic but survived, winning 4-6 6-3 6-7(6) 6-2 6-3.
Sabalenka, who left Paris in a “deep, dark place” after losing the last 10 games of her quarter-final against Diana Shnaider, followed Sinner on to Centre Court and breezed past Serbian qualifier Teodora Kostovic 6-2 6-3.
While world number one Sinner, the overwhelming favourite in the absence of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, lived to fight another day, there were some early seeded casualties.
Norway’s 11th seed Casper Ruud was handed a tough draw in the shape of big-serving Pole Hubert Hurkacz and duly lost 6-4 6-2 7-6(7) while 12th seed Andrey Rublev was edged out in a five-set battle against fellow Russian Roman Safiullin, losing a deciding set tiebreaker 14-12 after missing two match points.
OSAKA DRESSED TO IMPRESS
There was heartbreak too for surprise French Open runner-up Maja Chwalinska as she lost 2-6 7-5 6-2 to Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew on Monday after the Pole fell and hurt herself while on match point.
Several women’s seeds moved through on a day mercifully cooler than the heatwave that gripped London last week.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka once again dressed to impress, walking on court in a “Kill Bill” inspired white kimono and her tennis shone too as the 14th seed beat Elsa Jacquemot 6-1 7-5.
American fourth seed Jessica Pegula beat Darja Vidmanova 7-5 6-3 while newly crowned French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, seeded five, beat Magda Linette 7-5 6-4.
Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic had far too much experience for young wildcard Mika Stojsavljevic whose defeat was one of many on a miserable day for home players.
HOME HOPES EBB AWAY
It was a grim day for the home nation who failed to celebrate a single victory.
Twenty-one players, including 12 wildcards, were in the first-round draw but after Emma Raducanu withdrew with an injury on the eve of the tournament, she was followed on Monday by Jack Draper who announced he was also pulling out with an arm injury.
Ten British players lost including British number one Cameron Norrie, seeded 26, beaten in five sets by inspired American qualifier Michael Zheng.
Sinner’s meltdown in the Roland Garros furnace against Juan Manuel Cerundolo raised questions about his durability in long matches but he answered those, albeit in relatively cool conditions, against Kecmanovic.
Sinner racked up his 94th Grand Slam match-win, equalling the Italian record of Nicola Pietrangeli, but shed plenty of sweat and a little blood in reaching that mark, his white shoe stained red after injuring a nail in a fall.
“It was a little tight in the beginning, I didn’t play at my best but I tried to get into it,” he said. “I’m happy I turned it around because the third set was very tough to swallow.”
Sinner had a point to go two sets to one ahead but lost it and Kecmanovic pounced. Sinner was in danger of becoming only the third defending Wimbledon men’s champion to lose in the first round but dominated from then and later said his foot injury was not serious despite the pounding it took during his third-longest match at Wimbledon at three hours and 30 minutes.
“I’m actually surprised that they let me keep playing because my all white outfit turned into a little red,” he added.
NEW GENERATION TRIUMPH
Court One fans expecting to see Raducanu in action were left disappointed as the replacement match saw home hope Harriet Dart beaten by Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
Next up was a duel between two more former U.S. Open champions Daniil Medvedev and Marin Cilic but that fell flat as Cilic was made to look all of his 37 years as eighth seed Medvedev romped to a 6-1 6-2 6-4 win.
Two of the new men’s generation lit up the opening day.
Brazil’s Joao Fonseca, cheered on by a large contingent of fans in yellow soccer shirts, beat Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(4) 6-4 6-3 before heading off to watch Brazil beat Japan to reach the last-16 at the World Cup. Rising Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar, also aged 19, made an impressive debut, beating British wildcard Felix Gill 6-3 6-3 7-5.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Alison Williams)
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