Sinner remains ice cool as Gauff, Pegula and Zverev join bonfire of seeds

TimesLIVE

2 days ago

World number one Jannik Sinner stayed ice cool to move serenely into the Wimbledon second round, but it was a second successive day of upsets at a sizzling All England Club as a succession of seeded players crashed and burned on Tuesday.
American second seed Coco Gauff, chasing a French Open-Wimbledon double after her Paris triumph, was the day's most surprising casualty, losing 7-6(3) 6-1 to Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska as the sun set on a sultry day.
Gauff's compatriot Taylor Fritz, the world number five, survived a five-set firefight by the skin of his teeth against big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
However, the same could not be said of 13 of the men's seeds who fell at the first hurdle, a Wimbledon record since 32 seeds were introduced in 2001.
Nine seeds also perished in the women's first round while the eight top-10 seeds to go out across the singles draws amounted to the highest at a Grand Slam in the professional era.
Germany's Alexander Zverev was the most notable men's casualty, the third seed losing 7-6(3) 6-7(8) 6-3 6-7(5) 6-4 to France's Arthur Rinderknech in a marathon duel that began on Monday and was locked at one set apiece overnight.
"I'm not sure he's ever played a match like that in his life," said Zverev, who is chasing a first Grand Slam title after 38 attempts.