Last season’s Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios withdrew from this year’s tournament at the eleventh hour before his first-round match against David Goffin, having sustained a torn wrist ligament in Mallorca during the build-up to SW19. On Day 1, the French Open champions won clean before American pair Sofia Kenin and Coco Gauff battled during a pulsating three-set encounter.
Kyrgios’ injury woes persist, this time it’s his wrist
- “I tried my hardest to be ready after my surgery, to be able to step on the Wimbledon courts again – experienced some pain during the week of Mallorca, I just didn’t have enough time to manage it before Wimbledon. I’ll be back,” Kyrgios announces in Instagram post, night before R1 begun
- 28-year-old Australian was to face David Goffin on Day 1, while doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis won’t feature now after losing in qualifying
- This abrupt withdrawal also means that last year’s tournament runner-up has now missed three consecutive Majors for the first time in his career
More injury woe has prolonged Nick Kyrgios’ spell on the sidelines, as the 30th seed withdrew overnight before his first-round matchup against David Goffin.
Kyrgios withdrew from his home Major, the Australian Open, and underwent surgery on a cyst growing in his meniscus but wasn’t able to return until last month.
There, the 28-year-old’s movement was compromised as he lost against China’s Wu Yibing at the Stuttgart Open, before pulling out of Halle the week after.
Even still, he was seen conducting his media obligations and regularly training at the All England Club this past week, declaring his body felt okay after practice sets with compatriot Jordan Thompson and big-serving American Maxime Cressy.
Goffin – a former world no. 7 – reached the quarter-finals at SW19 in 2019 and again last year before losing a five-set thriller against Cameron Norrie.
Granted a wildcard for this season’s Championships, the Belgian veteran dropped a set en route to winning in four 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 against Hungarian lucky loser Fabian Maroszan – who memorably stunned Carlos Alcaraz at the Italian Open in mid-May.
Swiatek safely into round two, Sorribes Tormo next
French Open champion Iga Swiatek started well and finished by winning four of the last five games – beating Lin Zhu 6-1, 6-3 to kick off proceedings on No. 1 Court.
It got to a point, deep in set one, that the crowd were actively applauding Zhu and willing her on as she got on the scoreboard – some of the world no. 1’s fearsome groundstroke returns would end points prematurely, rather emphatically at that.
Zhu, a Birmingham semifinalist last week, isn’t a slouch by any stretch and the world no. 34 has justified that with her play in recent months.
Point construction and expert court coverage, playing an extra ball or three saw the Chinese keep it more competitive in set two as they exchanged three breaks of serve.
Ultimately though, Swiatek – who won the junior title in 2018 – improved behind her serve and cranked up her aggressiveness with the finish line in sight.
A maiden matchup against Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo awaits on Wednesday, after the 26-year-old needed patience in an exhausting first set against Martina Trevisan.
The Italian has now lost four on the spin for the second time already this season, and things escalated quickly as she earned just one game in set two (6-3, 6-1).
Cachin battles well but Djokovic endures rain delay
Speaking of reigning French Open titlists, Novak Djokovic similarly won in straight-sets against Argentina’s Pedro Cachin – but it was an encounter taking nearly two hours longer than he would’ve liked and that had little to do with the tennis on show.
Instead, some inopportune rainfall late in set one as the Serb was serving for the set flipped the wheels in motion for an uncomfortable sequence of events.
Player safety is of paramount importance and some would describe the 90-minute delay as comical, others farcical, which doesn’t bode well as volatile weather in south London is an inevitability – rain is again forecast throughout the day tomorrow.
After being broken early, Djokovic steadied himself as he does, mixing in deft shots with some clever winners while Cachin was clearly enjoying his Centre Court debut.
The 28-year-old’s serve was booming upon occasion (10 aces, 68% first serve percentage) and he wasn’t shy to produce a few excellent passing shots during their longer rallies. Djokovic graciously applauded, and raised his level in response.
More assertive behind his serve and earning free points galore as a result, the 36-year-old dropped just five points on first serve points played in the subsequent two sets (31/36), compared to 13/21 in the opener. Cachin couldn’t match him.
It’s easy to forget this was his first competitive match for more than three weeks, but he didn’t give away a set and finished strong in what proved the final set tiebreak.
Someone in nearly identical circumstances – French Open runner-up Casper Ruud – had teething problems a little later during Monday’s play but prevailed in four sets (6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3) against a fired-up French qualifier Laurent Lokoli.
28-year-old Lokoli hit 11 double-faults and 41 unforced errors while only converting 2-of-8 break point chances, which proved costly against Ruud. The Norwegian wasn’t at his best, but started well and refocused by tightening up his errors in set three.
It’ll be interesting to see how he fares next with the crowd against him in second-round action on Wednesday: British wildcard Liam Broady, who reached round three last season and won in straight-sets vs. France’s Constant Lestienne (6-1, 6-3, 7-5).
As for Djokovic, he’ll prepare for a first-time matchup against Australia’s Jordan Thompson in R2 after the 29-year-old’s impressive recovery result from two sets down to beat highly-rated American Brandon Nakashima 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
Brit watch: Dart, Swan out while Burrage and Choinski win
As previously mentioned, Liam Broady won with relative comfort against Lestienne to book a second-round clash vs. world no. 4 Ruud in midweek.
Dan Evans [27] will be desperately hoping for a turnaround overnight, as he won just five games in the first two sets against France’s Quentin Halys (6-2, 6-3, suspended).
Meanwhile last year’s semifinalist Cameron Norrie, Andy Murray and wildcard Arthur Fery are among those in action tomorrow on the men’s side.
As far as seeded players are concerned, Djokovic’s section currently features Lorenzo Musetti (6-3, 6-1, 7-5 vs. Juan Pablo Varillas) and 2021 semifinalist Hubert Hurkacz (6-1, 6-4, 6-4 vs. Albert Ramos Vinolas) after both won their R1 matches fuss-free.
Hurkacz will now play British wildcard Jan Choinski, after the Major main draw debutant earned a four-set win (5-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2) over Banja Luka champion Dusan Lajovic. Elsewhere, on the women’s side of the singles draw though…
Harriet Dart experienced a rollercoaster of emotions, from fighting valiantly to an adrenaline dump and everything in-between during a painful three-set defeat (6-7, 6-0, 6-4) by France’s Diane Parry in her third first-round exit.
The 20-year-old, a 2019 semifinalist at junior level, was more aggressive throughout and while there were periods where Dart had momentum behind her, it wouldn’t last long enough to matter much as far as the initiative was concerned.
That was typified by a back-and-forth deciding set, where Dart broke the Frenchwoman in the opening game before handing it straight back.
Failing to take advantage of opportunities at 40-40 on two occasions in the next game proved costly, as she was again broken down 3-1 and now had scoreboard pressure to contend with, even while retrieving it soon afterwards.
That constant pressure isn’t healthy, and Parry profited with better shot selection on an afternoon where either woman could’ve stolen the final set.
Katie Swan served 11 aces and matched Olympic champion Belinda Bencic for total winners (15) but will be left wondering what might’ve been, had she tightened up late in the first set and potentially pushed the Swiss into a tiebreak.
Instead, she lost it 7-5 and that proved the catalyst as the 14th seed – historically shaky at SW19 – improved behind her serve, saved two break points when called upon in set two and ultimately emerged unscathed with a 7-5, 6-2 result.
Jodie Burrage spoke about the confidence she gained from her run to the Nottingham final last month, and was understandably emotional after earning her first main draw victory: 6-1, 6-3 against American talent Caty McNally.
Her reward? A second-round matchup against Daria Kasatkina [11], who recorded the same scoreline against McNally’s older compatriot Caroline Dolehide but hasn’t done particularly well at this Major – a 2018 quarterfinal finish notwithstanding.
Kenin ousts Gauff in three-set thriller
2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin had to successfully navigate past three rounds of qualifying before making the main draw, and now she’s provisionally back into the world’s top 100 after a gutsy 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over Coco Gauff.
They had split the H2H 1-1, so it felt fitting this one needed all three sets to separate two Americans with redemption on their minds for very different reasons.
Kenin has never gone past round two at SW19, historically her poorest Major tournament, and was somewhat of a forgotten woman after struggling with form and injury in recent years. However she’s slowly rebuilding again out of the spotlight.
Gauff, five years younger, has been heralded as a shining light of women’s tennis and steadily been improving across all surfaces since breaking onto the scene at this very tournament as a 15-year-old four years ago.
That said, her forehand groundstrokes leave a lot to be desired and opponents are visibly targeting that weapon in longer rally exchanges, waiting for it to break down.
That happened all too frequently against Kenin, who is probably the toughest non-seed adversary you can get in R1, especially having already played a trio of matches to settle herself on a surface that hasn’t been kind to her over the years.
All things considered, there were some suspense-building rallies and fearsome winners by both – but Kenin responded well after losing set two, as Gauff’s bad habits returned at the wrong time to sting her as the pendulum swung out of reach.
She’ll play China’s 21-year-old Xinyu Wang next in the second-round, after the Chinese won 6-3, 6-1 against Australian qualifier Storm Hunter.
Elsewhere in that section – featuring Kasatkina-Burrage – Elina Svitolina won 6-4, 6-3 against five-time champion Venus Williams in the battle of two wildcards, while Victoria Azarenka [19] survived a scare vs. Chinese qualifier Yue Yuan 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
As usual, I’ll be producing daily pieces across the fortnight, so make sure you stay tuned to moandsports.com for the latest coverage.
Picture source: Getty Images
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