Coco Gauff shrugged off her Wimbledon gremlins in the nick of time to avoid another early exit on day three after men’s defending champion Jannik Sinner and women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka eased into the third round.
But fifth seed Mirra Andreeva’s dream of becoming the first female player since Serena Williams in 2015 to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back was shattered by former champion Barbora Krejcikova despite saving six match points.
For all her fight and fury, the 19-year-old Andreeva went down 4-6 7-5 6-4 as the understated Krejcikova showed the cool grasscourt craft that took her to the 2024 title.
Novak Djokovic completed the day’s action as he turned his Centre Court clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas – a player he has twice beaten in Grand Slam finals – into an exhibition.
The Serbian veteran, bidding for an eighth Wimbledon crown at the age of 39, was superb in a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win.
Sinner was also imposing on centre court, in front of several European Ryder Cup golfers who were watching from the Royal Box, as he beat Portugal’s Nuno Borges 7-6(4) 7-6(2) 6-4.
“Second match on grass, I was not looking for perfection,” Sinner said. “I tried to improve. Felt like at times I did. Now we’ll see how it goes.”
Others to move through in the men’s draw on an upset free day were Canadian third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime who beat Croatia’s Dino Prizmic 7-6(2) 6-3 7-5, and eighth seed Daniil Medvedev who enjoyed a four-set win over Spain’s Daniel Merida.
French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli, seeded ninth, beat Mariano Navone and Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca was roared on by his yellow-clad fan club as he blazed past Jesper de Jong.
Sabalenka, bidding for her first Wimbledon title, was cruising against American McCartney Kessler but had to fight back from 5-2 down in the second set to win 6-1 7-6(9).
Kessler had two set points at 5-3 and another two in the tiebreak but four-times Grand Slam champion Sabalenka raised the intensity levels to set up a third-round slugfest against big-hitting Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.
“She played incredible and played super aggressive and it was really tough to handle the second set and I am glad to have powered through,” Sabalenka said.
Four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka swapped her first round Kill Bill kimono for a more toned down outfit for her second-round clash against Russian qualifier Anastasia Gasanova but dazzled with her tennis in a 6-3 6-2 win.
Leave a Reply