Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula ousted in first-round Wimbledon shockers

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4 days ago

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 1, 2025 Coco Gauff of the U.S. reacts during her first round match against Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Three of the top five seeds in the Wimbledon ladies' singles draw -- Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and China's Qinwen Zheng -- bowed out Tuesday in a stunning first round in London.
Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto made a triumphant return to the Wimbledon stage by ousting No. 3 seed Pegula 6-2, 6-3 in just 58 minutes. Soon after, Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic outlasted the fifth-seeded Zheng 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.
To cap the upset-laden day, Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska took down No. 2 seed and French Open champion Gauff, 7-6 (3), 6-1.
"I love playing on grass," said Yastremska, who reached the final of last month's Nottingham Open on the surface. "I feel that this year we are kind of friends. I hope that the road will continue for me here."
Gauff struggled throughout the night, finishing with a mere six winners and 29 unforced errors. Yastremska broke Gauff's serve four times in six chances and capitalized on Gauff's balky serve. Gauff double-faulted nine times, and when she was forced to her second serve, she won fewer than half the points (14 of 32).
Cocciaretto, meanwhile, had to sit out the major in 2024 due to illness. She has played well on grass courts in the past year, reaching the semifinals last year at Birmingham and last month in 's-Hertogenbosch.
"I was so pumped to play Wimbledon this year," Cocciaretto said in her on-court interview. "I couldn't wait until the match started, I was practicing so hard."
Cocciaretto, 24, has won one title on the WTA Tour and has a 14-17 record and the No. 116 world ranking this season. By beating Pegula, she earned her second win over a top-10 opponent, previously defeating Petra Kvitova at the French Open in 2023.
Pegula came into the match on a high note, having defeated Iga Swiatek of Poland last weekend to win the grass-court title in Bad Homburg. But Cocciaretto dictated the match and hit 17 winners compared to five for Pegula, who was broken on serve four times but scored only eight points on her opponent's serve.
"She played absolutely incredible tennis," Pegula said. "Do I think I played the best match ever? No, but I definitely don't think I was playing bad. It wasn't like I was playing that bad. She just was hitting her shots and going for it, serving big, serving high percentage, going big second serves, redirecting the ball.
"I do feel like she played kind of insane. Hats off to her. Kudos to her for playing at a high level that I couldn't match today."
In the second round, Cocciaretto will face another American, Katie Volynets. She defeated Tatjana Maria of Germany 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1. Yastremska will face Russian qualifier Anastasia Zakharova, who defeated Belarus' Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
The plethora of top seeds falling could open a path for No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia, who beat Egypt's Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-3, or the eighth-seeded Swiatek, a 7-5, 6-1 winner over Russian Polina Kudermetova.
No. 10 seed Emma Navarro defeated two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1. It was Kvitova's final Wimbledon match, as she recently announced she will retire following the U.S. Open.
"This place holds the best memories I could wish for," Kvitova said in an on-court interview. "I never dreamed of winning a Wimbledon and I won it twice. This is something very special. I will miss Wimbledon for sure,"
Xinyu Wang of China upset Czech 15th seed Karolina Muchova 7-5, 6-2. And Canadian lucky loser Victoria Mboko -- in the field after Anastasia Potapova of Russia withdrew -- toppled Polish 25th seed Magdalena Frech 6-3, 6-2.
Other seeded players to advance Tuesday included No. 11 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 16 Daria Kasatkina of Australia, No. 17 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, No. 18 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, No. 23 Clara Tauson of Denmark and No. 28 Sofia Kenin.
Veronika Erjavec of Slovenia defeated No. 26 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in three sets. French qualifier Elsa Jacquemot did the same to No. 27 Magda Linette of Poland.
Americans Caty McNally, Hailey Baptiste, Danielle Collins and Caroline Dolehide advanced to the next round. Also victorious were Russians Anna Kalinskaya and Veronika Kudermetova, Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands, Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu, Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey, Lucia Bronzetti of Italy, Maria Sakkari of Greece, Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.
--Field Level Media/Reuters